Punjab skipper KL Rahul led from the front by scoring an unbeaten half-century as Punjab Kings defeat Mumbai Indians by 9 wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
After being asked to bat first by PBKS skipper Rahul, Mumbai Indians lost Quinton de Kock early, caught at mid-on by Moises Henriques off Deepak Hooda.
Ishan Kishan who was promoted to No 3 ahead of Suryakumar Yadav failed to get going as he edged a Ravi Bishnoi delivery to wicket keeper Rahul behind the stumps.
The pair of Rohit Sharma and Yadav resurrected the innings with a solid 79 run stand for the second wicket before the latter perished to Bishnoi top-edging a reverse sweep to Chris Gayle for 33. Mohammed Shami then claimed the prize scalp of Rohit caught at deep square leg for a brilliant 63. His knock came off 52 balls with five fours and two sixes.
The Pandya brothers struggled to get going and the duo fell cheaply again. Kieron Pollard remained unbeaten on 16, as Mumbai Indians Indians ended up with 131/6.
Mohammed Shami and Ravi Bishnoi claimed 2 wickets each for Punjab Kings.
Chasing 132, PBKS openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal got their team off to a fantastic start. The pair added 53 runs for the opening stand before Agarwal miscued a lofted shot off Rahul Chahar to Suryakumar Yadav at long on for 25.
Rahul along with Gayle put on an unbeaten 79-run stand for the second wicket to take Punjab to a comfortable 9 wicket win.
PBKS skipper Rahul was declared the Man of the Match.
