Live Report - IPL 2023 - Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians, Mohali

Bowling is not their strong pursuit right now, so they are making the most of their batting power and depth. They chased down 213 against Rajasthan Royals the other day in Mumbai, and today 215 with seven balls to spare!

How do you stop them? Or SKY? Or Tilak Varma?

Warning for bowlers: look away. Two-hundred plus total chased down, SKY's fastest IPL fifty, 43 fours, 16 sixes and 215 chased down with seven balls to spare!

Arshdeep Singh 3.5-0-66-1, his most expensive in the IPL.

Mumbai win by six wickets and join Punjab on 10 points, but overtake them to sixth place with a marginally better NRR.

It's not like it was going out of Mumbai's grasp but one more wicket could have. But wait for Tilak Varma.

On the last three balls of the 17th, he smokes a pull for six, scoops the next for four while anticipating a yorker, and when Punjab place four fielders for him on the leg side, he fearlessly goes after a ball to dispatch it over deep midwicket for six more!

Only 21 of 18 now. Mumbai closing in on 10 points.

Because there's a twist in the tale! Mumbai have lost both the set batters in the space of seven balls. SKY first finds short third off Ellis and then Kishan hooks Arshdeep straight to deep fine leg at the start of the 17th over!

Mumbai need 37 from 23.

He has scored his fastest IPL fifty today, and the one he scored against Punjab at Wankhede about 10 days ago was also off 23 balls. So SKY's fastest IPL fifty has come twice, both times against Punjab.

Sampath tells me the one he scored against Rajasthan was off 24 balls, so his three quickest IPL fifties have come in the last four games. He also had a 24-ball fifty vs SRH in 2021, so three of his four quickest IPL fifties have come in the last four matches. Incredible.

There is just no way you can describe this, or coach this, or replicate this.

Against Sam Curran, SKY starts with an unbelievable six over backward point. Then he lofts him over the covers elegantly for six number two. When Curran pitches it straighter to cut the width, he bludgeons the ball back for a four that even hit Curran on the way. And o the fourth legitimate ball, SKY is probably expecting another ball on middle and leg after the first two sixes, so he gets into position and whips him over fine leg for six!

23 from the over! 23-ball fifty! Mumbai need 77 off 42 now.

Kishan has benefited immensely since Arshdeep was taken off after his first over. Apart from the two fours he collected in that over towards the deep this boundary, Kishan has been swinging down the ground consistently. Just before reaching his fifty, he had scored 24 off his 48 runs towards the long-on area with all his three sixes coming in that area. And now he brings up his fifty off 29 balls.

Meanwhile, SKY is going strong as well, with his usual dabs and late cuts against the spinners. He has already struck four fours in his first 17 balls.

Rishi Dhawan gets a third over after 2-0-3-1. But instead of the short-of-length balls that took off and troubled the batters in his first two overs, he bowls in the slot to Kishan and sees the ball sail over long-on for sixes.

Punjab bring on Nathan Ellis, the Impact Sub for Prabhsimran, and on the last ball of the over, he bangs in a slow short-of-length ball which Green swings for and finds deep midwicket. Green was swinging at pretty much everything today, missing many of those, with a control percentage of 40 after five overs. Gone for 23 off 18.

Mumbai 54 for 2 after the powerplay.

Arshdeep Singh had bowled four balls to Kishan in the IPL before today and got him out on two of those! He nearly had him for the third time today in his first over, swinging the ball both way, extracting extra bounce, and taking the edge off the bat. Kishan manages two fours off Arshdeep but either of those could have gone to the fielder.

Mumbai 23 for 1 after three.

Rohit skips down the track after two dot balls, Rishi Dhawan pitches it full and wide to keep it away from Rohit and he flays at it but finds the fielder in the deep. Gone for a duck. Big blow for Mumbai in a big chase.

This IPL debutant Akash Madhwal is a brave bowler. He went for 16 and 12 in his first two overs, gets the unforgiving last over, and he attempts yorkers on all six of them. A few of them turned out to be full tosses but the damage wasn't big, and he was rewarded for his high-risk strategy, conceding just nine in the last over.

Livingstone says in the break that it's unchaseable! He and Jitesh Sharma put on a massive partnership of 119 off 53 to power them to 214 for 3. Is any total unchaseable for Mumbai? We'll find out.

Sampath shoots in some stats:

Punjab Kings - the first team to record four consecutive 200-plus totals in the IPL.

Mumbai Indians - the first team to concede four consecutive 200-plus totals in the IPL.

Archer starts the 19th over to Livingstone. He knows his England team-mate is going to go hard, and two of his first three are slower balls but straight. Livingstone makes room and swings them over long-on for sixes. In between them he gets them right in the slot and it's three sixes in a row! All of them bowled straight, all dispatched for sixes.

Archer goes around the wicket and nails a yorker, which goes for just a single, but he soon bowls a 150kmh bouncer the goes over the batter and the keeper. The century stand also comes up, Livingstone 75 off 38, Jitesh closing in on his fifty, Punjab 205 for 3. One over to go.

Since Chawla finished his quota in the 12th over, in which Jitesh walked out to bat, Punjab have been going all guns blazing with at least one boundary every over to shoot the run rate up from 8.25 to nearly 10 an over. Jitesh, especially, is swinging with his hard hands at almost everything coming his way, whether it's on length, slower, wide or not, full toss or not.

Imagine having a better strike rate than Livingstone at the other end. Jitesh races to 40 off 21 with four fours and two sixes when Livingstone reaches his 32-ball fifty. Punjab 171 for 3 after 17.2, Curran and SRK still to come.

It's just the 13th over, it's Jofra Archer bowling, and Jitesh is batting as if some part-timer is bowling the last over. He is throwing is hands at everything - length ball, slower ball, almost gets caught at deep midwicket, top-edges one over short third and then gets four leg byes just over Kishan on the leg side. Twenty-one of the over!

4-0-29-2.

Despite leaking runs early on against Dhawan, Chawla came back strongly with his googlies and variations to tie down the Punjab batters. Rohit has finished him off early, by the 12th over, and the hosts are going strong on 99 for 3. Jitesh Sharma and Liam Livingstone out there, bring out those umbrellas if you're in the stands.

Mumbai Indians have handed IPL debuts to six players so far: Arshad Khan, Cameron Green, Nehal Wadhera, Arjun Tendulkar, Duan Jansen and today Akash Madhwal.

Madhwal gets his first over in the 11th when Livingstone is on 11 off 10. He welcomes the debutant with a whack down the ground, Madhwal bravely replies with two yorkers (one of them is a no-ball), but when he errs with the length, Livingstone flicks him on the leg side for six! Sixteen from the over

Dhawan got another life in the next over when he sliced a ball to short third where Archer leapt to his right but couldn't hold on to it. And then Dhawan starts the eighth over by launching Chawala down the ground for another four. Chawla walks back, unleashes a googly, pulls the length back, Dhawan steps out, but this time he's nowhere close to the ball turning away and he's stumped!

Dhawan to Chawla today: 13 off five with three fours.

Dhawan to Chawla in the IPL: 105 off 64, three dismissals, SR of 164.

Mumbai are looking for wickets and they bring on their best bowler for the last powerplay over. A legspinner to a left-hand batter usually works in the batter's favour and Dhawan first launches him down the ground for four, and then sweeps him behind square where there's a fielder in the deep, but he overruns by a distance and sees the ball fly over his head. Dhawan gets a life, Punjab 50 for 1 after the powerplay.

Arshad is bowling too short too often. After four balls that went for just two singles, Matthew Short pulls him for four, and then glances the full ball on the pads just wide of a diving Piyush Chawla at short fine leg, for four to make it 12 off the over.

Punjab 35 for 1 after four. Jofra Archer gets his first over.

When was the last time you saw a batter walking, in any format? Prabhsimran Singh, Punjab's second-highest scorer of the season with a strike rate of 153.28 went after a short and wide ball, going away from him because it was from the left-arm quick Arshad Khan, and he edged it behind. The umpire didn't move after the loud appeal but Prabhsimran walked; good on him to save time because Mumbai would have reviewed, had the decision overturned and he would have been given out anyway.

Punjab 17 for 1 after two overs, Short joins his captain.

The square boundaries are identical - 72metres each. And looks like it's the same pitch that was rolled out for the 27th game of this IPL, between PBKS and RCB. I don't trust you to remember that, so here's the scorecard. Punjab had opted to bowl, RCB put up 174 with fifties from du Plessis and Kohli, and Punjab fell short by 24 runs.

There was some rain around in Mohali as well, but looks clear as of now.

Here's a fun fact: Punjab Kings have won four of the last five games against Mumbai.

Time for the toss and teams. Two former long-time opening partners at the toss, Rohit wins the toss and tells Anjum Chopra he asked Dhawan what he should do, Dhawan told him to bowl, and so Mumbai are bowling. Yes, you read that right and I heard that right.

Changes for both teams and three overseas in both XIs. Riley Meredith is injured so they bring in Akash Madhwal, a 29-year-old medium fast bowler from Roorkee, the land of Rishabh Pant. He has played for Uttarakhand, and has an experience of 22 T20s with 24 wickets and an economy rate of 7.43. Jofra Archer is in the XI.

Punjab Kings leave out Kagiso Rabada completely; he's not even in the subs options. Ellis comes in instead, along with Sikandar Raza, Taide, Rathee and Shivam Singh.

Punjab Kings XI: S Dhawan (capt), S Singh, M Short, L Livingstone, J Sharma (wk), S Curran, S Khan, H Brar, R Dhawan, R Chahar, A Singh.

Mumbai Indians XI: R Sharma (capt), I Kishan (wk), C Green, T David, T Varma, N Wadhera, K Karthikeya, A Khan, P Chawla, A Madhwal, J Archer.