KXIP vs MI | Player Ratings - KL Rahul and Murugan Ashwin star in Kings XI Punjab’s win over Mumbai Indians

03/30/2019

Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle provided the base while KL Rahul capitalised on that to help Kings XI Punjab secure an eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in Mohali today. Murugan Ashwin also put up a brilliant performance to ensure that Mumbai batsmen couldn’t open their arms at the right time.

KL Rahul (7/10): He was playing to revive his career in the beginning, and was pretty under-confident to start off with. However, he must feel lucky that Mumbai was tactically not on point and gave him some freebies in the middle-overs to up his strike rate, which eventually resulted in a win and a morale-boosting 71 for him.

Chris Gayle (6.5/10): The Big Man was active from the very first ball, giving Mumbai jitters that he would pull it off, but a mistimed hit ended his stay in the middle. Couldn’t really fault him given that was his role and he doesn’t know any other way of batting.

Mayank Agarwal (7.5/10): After Gayle’s dismissal, he single-handedly kept Kings XI Punjab in the run-chase. The innings’ value was more important because Rahul was very slow at the other end and showed no signs of picking up in the first 14 overs of the game.

David Miller (6.5/10): Had a major rebuilding job to do and also had to make sure that the team didn’t lose many wickets after Agarwal’s dismissal. With Rahul taking charge of hitting big sixes, Miller played second fiddle, but still managed a 10-ball 15 in Mohali. Job well done.

Sarfaraz Khan (6/10): Didn’t get to bat today, neither was he seen on the field. However, he must be cursing himself for the same because he had an opportunity to showcase his talent on a rather batting-friendly wicket.

Mandeep Singh (7.5/10): Ditto for Mandeep as far as batting is concerned, but man, how good was that fielding to save a boundary at the deep. After crossing the boundary, he dived into the air, stayed stale and threw back the ball safely before it could hit the ropes. The effort alone was worth 7.5 for me.

Hardus Viljoen (6.5/10): His 10 economy rate is easily forgiven because he picked Rohit Sharma and Krunal Pandya’s wicket - two players capable of changing the course of the game single-handedly. In a slow-moving game like this, it was the ultimate gold-dust and fair play to Viljoen for being able to do that.

Ravichandran Ashwin (4/10): The Kings XI Punjab skipper maintained his line and length throughout the powerplay and credit to him, he stuck to his plan of not allowing Mumbai batsmen the room to open their arms. He very rarely tried to pick a wicket though and only relied on the batsmen making mistakes. It was not the ideal strategy when the opposition is slowly cruising along.

Murugan Ashwin (8/10): The sudden high is associated with a deep fall in the IPL, most of the times, but Murugan Ashwin was determined to reverse the tale this time. Much leaner and more accurate this time, he never let Yuvraj Singh and Quinton de Kock settle against him before sending the former back to the hut. 2/25. Not a bad comeback, eh?

Mohammed Shami (7/10): While there is no doubt about the ability of Shami the wicket-taker, he concedes run regularly which put a dent mark on his reputation. Today was no different as the pacer conceded 42 runs in four overs, but his two wickets restored some parity to the performance.

Andrew Tye (6.5/10): The good thing about Tye is that he doesn’t get bogged down by some sixes and change his plan suddenly. The knuckleball was coming along nicely and most importantly, he used his variation to trouble one end. He might have taken only one wicket, but the bowling was lethal.