Parthiv Patel shone with a breezy 58-ball 81 and powered Mumbai Indians to a 25-run win over Kings XI Punjab whose IPL 2016 campaign turned from bad to worse.
Chasing a stiff target of 190, Kings XI Punjab were restricted to 164 for seven in the stipulated 20 overs.
This was Mumbai Indians’ third win in seven outings, while the Punjab franchise suffered its fifth defeat in six appearances.
Invited to bat, Mumbai Indians rode on Patel’s knock, his best in IPL, and Ambati Rayudu’s 65 off 37 balls to record their highest score against Kings XI Punjab in IPL.
Jos Buttler blazed his way to 24 off 13 balls with the help of three fours and a six as the visitors posted a competitive 189 for six.
For Kings XI Punjab, Glenn Maxwell finally found form as he top-scored with 56 off 39 balls, hitting five boundaries and a six. Shaun Marsh made 45 off 34 balls with the help of three fours and a six.
Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of MI bowlers, returning impressive figures of 3/26.
Batting second, Shaun Marsh and Maxwell provided the only bright spark for Punjab. While they ran the singles and twos, on and off, the Australian duo found the fence to keep the scoreboard moving with the run rate hovering around 7.5-8 an over.
Patel smashed 10 fours and two sixes, while Rayudu hit four boundaries and as many maximums.
Mumbai Indians were dealt a body blow in the first over itself with nothing on the board, when medium pacer Sandeep Sharma had skipper Rohit Sharma caught behind by Nikhil Naik with his second delivery.
Patel and Rayudu ensured there was no further setback for the next 15 overs, as they put on 137 runs for the second wicket till Rayudu was dismissed by Axar Patel.
Rayudu was lucky to get a life when Axar dropped an absolute sitter at deep midwicket off the bowing of Pardeep Sahu. Rayudu was batting on 33 then. Parthiv too got a reprieve when he was caught off a no-ball from a Mitchell Johnson delivery.
In the end, KXIP had only themselves to blame for being poor in the field.