Inglis stars as Punjab grab two shots to reach IPL final

JAIPUR: Australia’s Josh Inglis scored 73 to help Punjab Kings finish in the top-two moving into the IPL playoffs with a seven-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians on Monday.

Both the teams have already secured their play-off berth along with Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the T20 tournament.

A top-two position in the final group phase table makes Punjab grab one of the two spots in the first qualifier on May 29 and two shots at reaching June 3’ final.

Chasing 185 for victory, Punjab depended on a 109-run second-wicket stand between Inglis and Priyansh Arya to achieve their target with nine balls to spare in Jaipur.

The left-handed Arya made 62 before he departed in the 15th over and Inglis fell after his first IPL fifty with the team needing another 14 to win.

Inglis, a wicketkeeper-batsman, hit nine fours and three sixes in his 42-ball knock.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer made an unbeaten 26 off 16 balls to steer the team home.

“Every individual stepped up at the right time,” said Iyer.

“We’ve had players putting their hands up when we were in the dumps. (Coach) Ricky (Ponting) has been fantastic with player management, it’s important for me to get trust too.”

Ponting praised Iyer, who was brought for $3.17 million in November’s auction.

“It was pretty obvious with the amount of money we spent on him, we wanted him here,” said Ponting.

“He’s a man who has been so good and has a sparkle for captaincy, he has led this team superbly.”

Five-time champions Mumbai sit bottom of the top-four teams and will play the eliminator on May 30.

“We just want to play good cricket going forward, figure out the right template for the batting group,” Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya said.

“Not much panic though, we