Mumbai, Apr 16 (PTI) A belligerent century from Quinton de Kock (112 not out) and a gritty 50 from Naman Dhir pulled Mumbai Indians out of doldrums and lifted them to an under-par 195/6 against Punjab Kings in their Indian Premier League match here on Thursday.
Confined to warming the bench so far, de Kock replaced Rohit Sharma and smacked his third IPL hundred to lead an inspirational fightback for the troubled Mumbai Indians, who had slipped to 15/2 in three overs and had their backs firmly pressed against the wall.
The veteran Protea batter was in his elements during his unbeaten ton — a 60-ball 112 not out (8x4s, 7x6s) and his first in IPL since 2022 — clobbering the ball powerfully on the leg-side and picking boundaries with precision and terrific timing on the off.
India and Punjab Kings pacer Arshdeep Singh (3/22) swung the ball precariously with immaculate lengths to snaffle two key wickets early on, while a third came late in the innings.
After beating Ryan Rickelton (2) persistently with deliveries that swung away from the left-hander, Arshdeep had the South African caught at deep square leg on a shortish ball. He was all over India T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav (0), luring him outside off on the first ball and beating him with the swing to have a thick edge flying to short third.
With Suryakumar back in the hut and Tilak Varma (8) out of sorts, MI took a punt in promoting Dhir at No. 4 and the right-handed batter repaid the faith with a gutsy knock which required him to be patient.
Dhir was also lucky when on 10, as Yuzvendra Chahal spilled a sitter at short fine-leg off Marco Jansen in the fifth over. He was lucky again when a misjudgement in calling for a single in the next over did not result in de Kock being run-out at the non-striker’s end, as Shreyas Iyer missed the direct hit.
Mumbai Indians once again had an underwhelming powerplay — 48 for 2 — but the home camp was certainly relieved as there was no further damage. The pair had already begun the reconstructing work, and there on neither de Kock nor Dhir made any error in their century stand.
De Kock and Dhir put on 132 off 68 balls in a robust third-wicket stand which not only revived MI but built a strong platform to push on for a big total, but the hosts could not manage scoring more than 10 an over.
With a strong bottom-hand stroke play, Dhir struck three sixes and as many fours and played a perfect second fiddle to de Kock. The partnership ended immediately after Dhir completed his half-century, hitting one straight to long-off.
In the 18th over, Iyer had his arms spread wide in celebration after he caught the ball off Hardik Pandya (14) while being airborne over ropes at long-on and hurling it to Xavier Bartlett for a superbly-executed catch. PTI DDV PDS PDS
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