The Punjab Kings snatched a 12-run win against the Mumbai Indians at Pune’s MCA Stadium to register their third win of the Tata Indian Premier League 2022. The team rode on fifties from openers Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal, and a four-wicket haul from Odean Smith to leave Mumbai Indians winless even after their fifth game of the season.

With this win, PBKS moved to the third position on the points table with a NRR of +0.239 and 6 points. MI remain at the bottom of the table.

Sent in to bat first, the Punjab Kings openers gave the team a healthy start, putting on 97 runs for the first wicket. Captain Mayank Agarwal scored a fluent 52 (32) laced with two sixes and four fours, and was the first to fall between him and fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan.

Dhawan’s next two partners, Jonny Bairstow (12 off 13) and Liam Livingstone (2 off 3), fell relatively quickly, before the hard-hitting Jitesh Sharma joined him in the middle. After five fours and three sixes, and scoring a blistering 70 off 50 deliveries, Dhawan fell to a Basil Thampi delivery to return back to the pavilion.

In this process, the powerful opener overtook Suresh Raina to become the highest run-scorer against Mumbai Indians, scoring 871 runs in 27 innings. Raina, meanwhile, has 824 runs in 34 innings. This was Dhawan’s 45th Indian Premier League half-century.

Sharma then took up big-hitting responsibilities, partnering with Shahrukh Khan to bring up 47 runs in the last four overs. Sharma played yet another fiery cameo of 30* from 15, with a massive 23-run over off Jaydev Unadkat, in which he took 20 runs off five deliveries.

Shahrukh Khan also freed his arms to score 15 (6), before departing on the fourth ball of the final over. The Sharma-Khan onslaught helped Punjab Kings push to 198/5 in 20 overs after temporarily slowing down in the middle due to the loss of a few quick wickets.

Mumbai Indians responded with captain and opener Rohit Sharma looking dangerous early on, scoring 28 (17), before he and Ishan Kishan fell in quick succession to Kagiso Rabada and Vaibhav Arora respectively.

The next two batters, Dewald Brevis and Tilak Varma breathtakingly upped the ante for the Mumbai Indians, sharing an 84-run partnership off just 41 balls that swung the game in their favour. However, a short ball from Odean Smith saw Brevis late on the pull and Arshdeep Singh safely took the catch to dismiss him at 49 off 25. Varma followed him to the dugout soon enough at 36 (20) after a mix-up with Suryakumar resulted in him being run-out.

Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard then occupied the crease for a few overs. The equation came down to 49 needed off 24 deliveries, when Odean Smith affected a run out against the big man, sending him back for a mere 10 (11) to pull things back slightly in PBKS’ favour again.

While Yadav kept the scoreboard moving with a few maximums, his inability to find a stable partner did not do him any favours. Arshdeep Singh bowled the 18th over to Jaydev Unadkat, giving away just five runs and widening the equation to 28 needed off 12 balls. Soon enough, the pressure mounted on Yadav, whose wicket Rabada gladly claimed as the equation came down to 22 needed off the last six deliveries, with none of the specialist batters remaining.

Smith was handed the responsibility of defending the score. Unadkat threatened a heist, starting the over with a six and a brace. However, he holed out to captain Mayank Agarwal in the next delivery as the equation came down to 14 needed off two balls.

The game further seemed to tilt in MI’s favour with a wide next ball, but Smith redeemed himself very well, taking out Jasprit Bumrah, bowling a dot ball to the new batter Tymal Mills, and dismissing him too, to help the Punjab Kings snatch a 12-run win over the Mumbai Indians.