PBKS vs MI, 23rd Match at Pune, IPL, Apr 13 2022 - Ball by Ball Commentary

11.28 pm Mumbai were well ahead on the worm at the halfway stage of the chase with plenty of wickets in hand too, but things unraveled after the fall of Brevis followed by the chaotic (and preventable) runouts of Tilak and Pollard.

Gautam: "Where MI lost the tournament is at Auction Table".

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma: "There's hardly anything to find out from that game. I thought we played the game pretty well, came pretty close towards the back end of our batting innings. It's just that a couple of crucial runouts there was not needed, but that happens. At one stage we were cruising through and keeping up with the run rate as well, but in the end we couldn't hold our nerves. Credit to Kings with the way they bowled at the back end. [On changing batting order] If you're not winning games, you've got to try to find a way you can succeed as a team as a batting group. So we're trying to find different ideas, different thought processes. It doesn't seem to be working at the moment but I don't want to take anything away from the guys. We fought pretty well. We batted brilliantly, but they held their nerves pretty good, the Kings, and they won the game. We've been not playing good cricket for awhile and that's why we've been on the losing side, simple as that. The Kings batted pretty well up front and put pressure on our bowlers, got a 90-100 run partnership to begin with. But I thought 190+ was chaseable on that pitch because that pitch was really good to bat on as you saw when we were batting as well. We just have to go back and see what we do as a team."

PBKS bowler Odean Smith: [About the last over] I was thinking it was such a coincidence that within four games I find myself in the same situation. What doesn't kill me makes you stronger. I just went out there and backed my best balls and it came through for us. [On coming around the wicket] Most of the guys hit the ball straight or leg side. I talked to Shikhar and he said this guy doesn't cut the ball or scoop of anything. I thought it would be harder for him to get me straight down the ground or through the leg side if I was going across him."

PBKS captain Mayank Agarwal has been named Player of the Match: "It was a good night, very very happy to contribute to the team's win but the crucial thing for us was the two points. I can't really say that it was just the runs on the board. I thought this game had a lot of ups and downs, there were a lot of crucial moments and more often than not we were nailing those crucial moments and winning those crucial moments. Somehow or the other, when the game was 50/50, those moments came towards us. So it wasn't just the batting. It was those periods of the game. At the start of the tournament, we said that's the brand of cricket we want to play. We want to play aggressive, hard cricket, and with that we need to show good intent. I think this time around we were a lot smarter with the bat as well. So we showed great intent but we were a lot smarter so that we could keep wickets in hand and use the death as well. I thought in the last game against Gujarat, we gave wickets to Rashid when it wasn't required. But this time we were a lot more aware and careful. We made sure to not give wickets to their main bowlers and if it's your day, you have to take the team through. It can get hard. Credit to Brevis the way he took on Rahul and got the better of him, but then a great comeback from Rahul as well. After that one over, the other three overs he bowled were tight. Obviously when Tilak and Brevis were going the way they were going, we had to change our strategy and get into the main bowlers to try to get a wicket and luckily that happened through a runout. We don't rely on just Rabada, yes he leads the attack for us but we have two other guys to come and do that. It's nice and very happy to have three wins. I think we're playing good cricket overall and if we get 5-10% better every game, I think we'll go on to do special things."

That's it for our IPL coverage today. Come back tomorrow for more IPL action. On behalf of Sid Monga, I'm Peter Della Penna. Keep your eyes peeled for post-match coverage from KK and the rest of the crew. Take care!

Tymal Mills enters on strike.

Two sixes for a super over anyone?

Bumrah comes out on strike with Smith staying around the stumps.

Smith comes around the wicket now.

If he can hit the ball like that, then why on earth did he turn down the single at the non-striker's end in the last over?

Odean Smith returns with 22 required off the last over.

James L: "At this level of cricket, you can't be shielding a number 7 from strike." The No. 7 wanted to shield himself! SKY wanted a single there but it was Unadkat who didn't want to run.

Should they have taken the single on the previous ball? Hmmm....

28 off 12. Rabada to bowl the 19th.

Darshin: "Stop blaming Pollard guys. You can't expect a dump truck speeding at the speed of a Ferrari! Expect too much!" The problem was that the dump truck wasn't running period. If Pollard puts in a straightforward effort running the first, they come back for an easy two.

Deepankar DM: "Jogging and Putting your hand up to deny a run may be enough to transfer the blame, but it's not good enough to win matches. Not T20s, especially of this stature. You need to turn ones into twos to win, not the other way around."

Rejith: "@Himanshu, I partly agree. When you need 12 RPO, you need to look at all opportunities to score runs. You don't expect complacency in running at this stage of the game. Surya was right in looking for opportunity of a run, just that Pollard wasn't."

Bharat Jakati: "Pollard's fault. Can't be ambling your first run in a crunch chase like this."

rishi: "i think sky has the "reverse helicopter"...look at those wrists.." Mighty strong to hit back to back sixes in that manner over backward point.

WhyTheHate: "Why are people hating on Surya? Tilak was out because he had a start and didn't see the ball. Surya was on backfoot and was not in a position to make to danger end. Pollard was clearly his own fault for just jogging in for first run while the run rate is increasing. "

Arshdeep returns around the stumps.

Himanshu : "It was definitely Suryas fault in both the runouts. Ball watching in one and not aware of what you partner is doing and running blindly. Pollard clearly put his hand up. Surya can run 4 too but won't help if his partner has said no. "