Jaipur, May 26 (IANS) In an innings where batters failed to make much of a mark, Suryakumar Yadav’s gritty 57 led Mumbai Indians to a total of 184/7 in 20 overs against Punjab Kings at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Yadav, who is known for his innovation and aggressive batting, has now certainly added longevity to his innings. His 57 off 39 deliveries saw him bat deep while his teammates struggled to make big scores and launched an all out attack in the death overs.

After being put to bat first, Ryan Rickelton (27) took to an attacking approach, which saw him score three boundaries in the opening two overs, Rohit Sharma (24) struggled to get going and it was not until the fourth over that MI really took the attack to the Punjab bowlers.

With Harpreet Brar getting the ball, Rohit walked down the pitch and dispatched it for a six between deep mid-wicket and long-on. He then followed it with a four on the next delivery.

With runs beginning to flow, Shreyas Iyer reintroduced Marco Jansen, after he only went for six runs in his first over, and he delivered his national team compatriot’s wicket on the first ball. A back of a length delivery saw Rickelton try to pull but he mistimed it straight to the PBKS skipper at mid-on.

Yadav found the boundary on his first ball of the innings and helped Mumbai reach 52/1 at the end of the powerplay.

He then attacked Kyle Jamieson, who is playing his first game of the season after replacing Lockie Ferguson, for two boundaries and a six for a 15-run over.

Rohit certainly struggled on the day as he knocked his way to 24 off 21 deliveries. His time at the crease came to an end when he once again tried to attack Brar but this time could only find Nehal Wadhera, who ran in from long-on to take a solid low catch.

Things went from bad to worse in the next over when Tilak Varma (1) found Arshdeep Singh at third man off Vyshak. Will Jacks (17) looked like his explosive self and hit two consecutive boundaries off Jansen to raise 100 runs for the side in 12 overs.

After hitting a much needed six off Vyshak, Jacks too fell to the right-arm medium pacer on the next ball. A full-ish delivery saw the Englihsman try to clear the long-on boundary but the ball only travelled as far as the safe hands of Jansen.

Hardik Pandya (26) could have also been sent packing for a duck but Vyshak failed to latch on to the MI’s skipper straight drive in the same over.

Jamieson’s return to the cash-rich league was not one he would want to remember with fondness as Pandya edged him for four before Yadav launched him over long-off for half-a-dozen.

Pandya flexed his muscles with a six off Jansen before the Proteas quick found his edge on the next ball to dismiss the MI skipper.

After being struck for 38 runs in three overs, Jamieson certainly pulled back in his last spell as he only conceded four runs in the 18th over and almost carved SKY’s wicket but the wicket-keeper batter was put down by Wadhera.

With just two overs to go, Naman Dhir (20) decided to go guns blazing and started Vyshak’s final over with two maximums over long-off and deep mid-wicket. Yadav also scored two boundaries from the other end and raised his fifth half-century of the season in 34 deliveries.

Arshdeep grabbed his only wicket of the night with a short ball, dug into the surface, which Naman could not get under and pulled it towards Priyansh Arya at deep square leg. Arshdeep rounded off the innings well, giving only three runs off the final over and caught Yadav LBW on the final ball of the innings.

For the bowling side, Marco Jansen, Vijaykumar Vishak and Arshdeep Singh claimed two wickets each.

Brief Score: Mumbai Indian 184/7 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 57, Ryan Rickelton 27, Hardik Pandya 26; Marco Jansen 2-34, Vijaykumar Vishak 2-44, Arshdeep Singh 2-28) vs Punjab Kings.

–IANS

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