A comprehensive nine-wicket victory could be made to look like an existential crisis only by the Punjab Kings. But every run of a sub-par target of 132 was a battle for them because Mumbai Indians, the champions took an apparent stroll deep into the death overs by turning to the spin contingent of their hugely versatile attack. This dull battle took place at the spin-friendly deck of Chepauk stadium.
The chase finally ended with a spare of 14 balls because of a thankful disciplined stand of 79 runs from 62 balls between Chris Gayle and KL Rahul. Both of them soaked up the dot balls by swallowing their victory, being aware that the asking rate would never get out of hand in the situation.
Nevertheless, as Rahul Chahar, the leg spinner, again led with a daunting spell of 4-0-19-1, he was ably helped by Jayant Yadav-s off breaks (4-0-20-0), who-s dispatching by Gayle for a vast 6 over long-on in the 15th over inadvertently rejuvenated the interests of Mumbai. The drier ball which was a replacement, with its venom, bit the dry surface, and both batsmen had some interesting dicey moments at the denouncement - not least Rahul, who brought up a run-a-ball fifty with a foremost edge into no man-s land at square leg.
For Kings, Fifth Bowler first Mumbai-s intentions were turned inside out as it was a topsy-turvy from the outset from the Kings. A solitary over had been bowled in this tournament to date. This was done by Moises Henriques. This may have been out of desperation after a soaring start to the Sunrisers- run-chase in last week-s nine wicket defeat. But therein lay the start of a cunning plan, as Henriques - with three cheap overs - and Deepak Hooda equally unaccustomed to being called upon so prematurely in an innings, were charged with limiting Mumbai-s style in the power play. In the course of their first four matches, Mumbai has suspiciously become familiar with the surface. A strange and un-alerted Rohit Sharma-s intent seems to have been anaesthetized here, who aided and abetted the pair, and latterly Mohammad Shami.
Sharma had jogged for his first run and when he patted a shin-high-full-toss from Henriques to long-on for another single, his surfeit of caution was summed up. However, for Mumbai-s first boundary of the night, he made amends an over later. A run out off the second ball of the game was possible and close for Sharma. Quinton de Kock never went smoothly either, as he made an eccentric drive to mid-on because of Hooda-s off breaks. Even Ishan Kishan, who-s usually unfazed, could not escape the first gear. This is while Mumbai, for the first 6 overs, shambled for 21 to 1. This is their joint-second-lowest-power play total in IPL history. Punjab stole their five overs from their least vaunted bowlers. Ravi Bishnoi, the new leg spinning replacement for M Ashwin, in his opening over, gave a big spinning googly to Kishan.
No celebration for Rohit-s ballast Fabian Allen-s first two balls gave Sharma-s strike rate a bonus and at the eight over, he was ready to go deep to make 25 runs at 22 balls. For Allen-s next over, Sharma drove him over the leg side, for Mumbai-s first six. Hooda faced a similar experience when he returned for a ten-run third over in the 12th. With Suryakumar Yadav picking up the pace, Sharma hurried to his fifty from 40 balls.
Suryakumar sped up with a scoop over backward square off Bishnoi and a pick-up through long-on off Shami. But Punjab-s vice-like grip hadn-t been loosened. He top-edged a switch-hit off Bishnoi to Gayle who was at short fine leg. This took place when he was on 33. Kieron Polard was still at 0 (and with Rahul failing to pick up the variation), Bishnoi messed up his bails.
The Kings got a massive one after an over. As Shami returned to the attack, Sharma had to go for 63 from 52 balls. This indicated that run-making on this surface was not easy.
Lengthy finish even after a speeding start Mumbai opened with Boult giving just a single. However, in the power play, Krunal Pandya-s deployment was ineffective. A glorious pulled six over extra cover was possible by Mayank Agarwal because of a brace of fours for Rahul. This was an important start.
Rahul was nearly struck with Chahar-s third ball. Agarwal, on 25, beat into a half-formed drive over long-on. In Chahar-s third over, Gayle and Rahul took singles. Punjab was then stuck with a required rate of 7.5.
In Chahar-s final over, Gayle almost lost his off stump to an ill-conceived cut, and then there was a shoveled pull past fine leg. In Jayant-s next over, this trick made Gayle-s innings steady and he risked lbw to nick another boundary behind square.
For the remainder of Jayant-s over, the replacement ball went past his edge. When Krunal returned to attack, he had a related assistance. Mumbai were ultimately left to regret a batting performance.