Ahmedabad, June 1 (IANS) High tempo knocks from Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Naman Dhir propelled Mumbai Indians to a challenging 203/6 against Punjab Kings in the IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday.

On a pitch which had some moisture and aided slower balls, Suryakumar and Varma hit knocks of 44 each while Dhir applied finishing touches with an 18-ball 37 to take MI past the 200-mark, despite PBKS fighting back in between. The five-time champions have never lost while defending a 200-plus score in the IPL, and if they maintain that record, they will be in their seventh IPL final on Tuesday.

Play began after two hours and 15 minutes of rain playing hide and seek, as well as of oscillating between drizzle and heavy downpour. Once the game began, PBKS had instant success as Rohit Sharma, dropped on four in the second over, pulled to deep square leg off Marcus Stoinis.

After that, Varma and Jonny Bairstow brought out big shots from the word go. While Varma smacked Stoinis for a powerful six over long-on fence, Bairstow – despite being outwitted by slower balls at times – got two fours off Arshdeep, including off a top-edge, before taking a boundary and six off Azmatullah Omarzai, as MI ended power-play at 65/1.

Bairstow’s troubles against slower balls continued in front of Vyshak Vijaykumar, who troubled him with it and eventually had him caught behind off an attempted scoop through a knuckle ball in the eighth over. Varma, though, ran after Vyshak – dispatching him down the ground for four, before lofting elegantly over long-off for six.

Suryakumar, who struggled to time his scoops well, found his range by taking two sixes and a four off a returning Yuzvendra Chahal’s second and third overs – the maximums coming off a sweep and loft down the ground, while the boundary came off a cut through backward point for four.

After reaching out to slash and pull off Jamieson for two fours and go past 700 runs in this season, Suryakumar lofted Chahal for a four and six each, before the leg-spinner had the last laugh as the batter top-edged a sweep to deep mid-wicket. One brought two for PBKS as Varma mistimed his loft to mid-on off Jamieson, as MI lost both of their set batters in just three balls.

Dhir began adding some impetus into the back-end of MI’s innings by taking three fours off Arshdeep, including one coming off the top-edge, in the 17th over. He and Hardik Pandya took a four each off Omarzai, before the latter top-edged a pull to keeper on the last ball of the 18th over.

With Arshdeep missing his lengths and PBKS forced to put only four fielders on the boundary ropes in last two overs due to over-rate penalty, Dhir nailed his pull and loft to pick two fours, before heaving Omarzai for another boundary. Though Dhir later hit straight to extra cover off Omarzai, MI managed to cross the 200-run mark, something which can be of a great psychological advantage in a knockout game, especially with a spot in final on the line.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 203/6 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 44, Tilak Varma 44; Azmatullah Omarzai 2-43, Marcus Stoinis 1-14) against Punjab Kings

–IANS

nr/