Abu Dhabi: Riding on the fifty of captain Rohit Sharma Mumbai Indians scored 191/4 against Kings XI Punjab here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Asked to bat first by KXIP skipper KL Rahul, MI opener Quinton de Kock once again failed to give his team a solid start as he was dismissed by Sheldon Cottrell on duck in very first over of the innings. Cottrell who was smoked for five sixes in an over in last game started this match with a maiden over.
Rohit was then joined by Suryakumar Yadav in the middle. Yadav looked in fine touch as he smashed two boundaries in seven balls that he faced. Unforntunelty, he was run-out, courtesy to Mohamad Shami's direct hit.
Rohit then alongside Ishan Kishan rebuild the innings. Both were playing defensively and at one point their strike rate fell below 100. Kishan was sent back to the dugout by Krishnappa Gowtham.
Rohit completed his fifty and became the third batsman to register 5,000 runs in the IPL. The right-hand batsman has now scored more than 5,000 IPL runs in just 191 matches. The other two players who have scored over 5,000 runs in the IPL are Royal Challengers Banglore skipper Virat Kohli and Chennai Super Kings star batsman Suresh Raina.
Just when Rohit was finding some momentum Rahul brought back Shami and he picked the very important wicket of MI skipper. With this wicket, he also reclaimed Purple Cap. Rohit scored 70 runs off just 45 balls with the help of three maximums and eight boundaries.
Power hitting batsmen Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya the took the responsibility to finish the innings for MI. Pollard smashed four sixes and three boundaries in his 47-run knock while Pandya scored 30 of just 11 balls.
For KXIP, Cottrell picked one wicket while giving away just 20 runs. All-rounder James Neesham had a bad outing as he leaked runs at an economy of 13. Shami picked one wicket but was smashed for 36 runs in four overs.
