After a disastrous start, opener Quinton de Kock’s half-century and a late flourish by Kieron Pollard and Nathan Coulter-Nile pushed Mumbai Indians to 176/6 against Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League on Sunday, 18 October.
After choosing to bat, Rohit Sharma-led were reduced to 38/3 in the first 31 balls at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Rookie bowler Arshdeep Singh removed opener Rohit Sharma (9), and number four batsman Ishan Kishan (7), in his first two overs of the day while pacer Mohammed Shami dismissed Suryakumar Yadav for a duck.
From there, opener Quinton de Kock and Krunal Pandya stitched a 58-run partnership to steady Mumbai’s innings. The duo took MI to 93/3 in 13 overs before Deepak Hooda took a diving catch off a delivery by Ravi Bishnoi to dismiss Krunal for a 30-ball 34.
The other Pandya, Hardik, became Shami’s second victim of the day. The all-rounder added 20 runs with de Kock before falling for a 4-ball 8.
De Kock reached the fifty-run mark of 39 deliveries – his fourth half-century in the last five innings – but fell to Chris Jordan for 53 (off 43 balls) which featured three boundaries and three sixes.
Kieron Pollard (12-ball 34*) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (12-ball 24*) then smashed 54 runs in the last three overs to push Mumbai to a 170-plus score.
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