Dharamsala, May 14 (PTI) Prabhsimran Singh smashed a fluent half-century before Shardul Thakur’s four-wicket burst triggered a dramatic collapse, but a strong late surge helped Punjab Kings post a competitive 200 for 8 against Mumbai Indians in a crucial IPL match here on Thursday.
Asked to bat first after suffering four successive defeats, PBKS rode on an attacking 33-ball 50-run opening stand between Priyansh Arya (27) and Prabhsimran (57).
Mumbai Indians paid heavily for dropping Prabhsimran early as the opener powered Punjab to 55 for 1 in the powerplay and then added 57 runs with Cooper Connolly to take the side past the 100-run mark in the 12th over.
It was Deepak Chahar who struck first for MI, cleaning up Arya with a delivery that rattled the top of off stump in the fifth over.
Stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah was unlucky not to get Prabhsimran earlier after Naman Dhir dropped a straightforward catch off a thick edge in the second over, and the PBKS batter capitalised by hitting Bumrah for two boundaries.
Connolly (21) got going with the first six of the innings off spinner Raghu Sharma in the eighth over before collecting two more boundaries off Will Jacks.
Prabhsimran then took charge, slog-sweeping Raghu for two sixes in the 10th over and launching Corbin Bosch for another maximum.
He reached his fifty with a single and followed it up with another six off Shardul over backward square leg.
However, the momentum shifted dramatically once Shardul, who had conceded 15 runs in his opening over, struck twice in the space of three balls.
The pacer removed the well-set Prabhsimran and then dismissed skipper Shreyas Iyer (4) as PBKS slipped badly.
Raj Bawa then joined the act, castling Connolly with a cross-seam delivery, before taking a sharp catch at short midwicket to dismiss Suryansh Shedge off Shardul.
Shashank Singh was trapped lbw by Bosch, while Marco Jansen also fell cheaply with Shardul striking again in the 17th over to leave Punjab in deep trouble.
PBKS, however, finished strongly by plundering 53 runs in the last three overs as MI bowlers erred with their variations at the death.
Azmatullah Omarzai led the counterattack with a 17-ball 38 studded with two sixes and a four, while Vishnu Vinod and Xavier Bartlett added valuable late runs.
Vinod and Bartlett collected 22 runs off Bosch’s final over, aided by sloppy fielding and two dropped catches near the boundary, as Punjab crossed the 200-run mark for the eighth time this season. PTI ATK APS
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