IPL 2022, MI vs PBKS: Punjab Kings hand Mumbai Indians fifth successive loss

Pollard, Tilak's dismissals scuttle Mumbai's chase as they lose 5 out of 5; Punjab win by 12 runsPUNE: Unless they stage a spectacular turnaround from here, the Mumbai Indians can kiss their chances in IPL 2022 goodbye. Chasing 199 on a batting paradise at the MCA Stadium here on Wednesday night against Punjab Kings, the five-time champions tried hard, but finished at 186 for nine to go down in a high-scoring thriller by 12 runs. AS IT HAPPENEDThis is now MI's fifth defeat in their first five games, and equals their worst start in IPL 2014, when they lost five in a row at the beginning of the tournament. For Punjab, this was their third win, and they have now climbed to No 3 on the table with six points after five games. Though he was involved in running out Tilak Varma (36, 20b, 3x4, 2x6) and Keiron Pollard (10) at crucial stages in the chase, Suryakumar Yadav (43, 30b, 1X4, 4X6) kept MI in the hunt with his sparking strokeplay. However, his dismissal in the penultimate over, caught at long on off Kagiso Rabada, signalled the end of MI's challenge.

Skipper Rohit Sharma blazed away to a 17-ball 28 (3x4, 2x6), before he top-edged a pull off Rabada and was well caught by a sprinting Vaibhav Arora. After Ishan Kishan (3) too fell early, talented youngsters Dewald Brevis (49, 25b, 4x4, 5x6) and Tilak Varma (36, 20b, 3x4, 2x6) added 84 in 41 balls for the third wicket to lead a fabulous fightback for MI. Unleashing some sensational hitting to revive memories of his countryman AB de Villiers, South Africa's Brevis, just a month shy of his 19th birthday, blasted Rahul Chahar for four consecutive sixes in the ninth over, besides a four. The leggie went for 29 in his first over-his costliest ever in the IPL, though he did well