Hardik Pandya and Saurabh Tiwary rose to the occassion and delivered for Mumbai Indians as the defending champions defeated Punjab Kings by six wickets on Tuesday to revive a late charge for the IPL 2021 playoff qualification spots. 

Chasing a 136-run target, Mumbai found themselves on the back-foot early in the game as spinner Ravi Bishnoi dismissed skipper Rohit Sharma (8) and Suryakumar Yadav (0) with consecutive deliveries in fourth over. Yadav’s form has been a concern all season for the defending champions, scoring just 189 runs from 11 games this term. 

The 31-year-old was one of the key cogs in MI’s winning run last year in the UAE, scoring 480 runs. However, with Ishan Kishan dropped following a poor run of form, skipper Sharma may need to take a similar step for the misfiring Yadav. 

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Meanwhile, Quinton de Kock (27) stabilised the innings after the double blow to Mumbai, but failed to go big after being bowled by Mohamed Shami. 

But Saurabh Tiwary, included in the side for Kishan, scored 45 runs from 37 deliveries to keep Mumbai in the contest. He stitched a 55-run stand with Pandya, before falling to Nathan Ellis. His knock included three fours and two sixes. 

Pandya (40) kept the scoring going with a few lusty blows, finding the boundary four times apart from clearing the fence twice, including once on the final ball of the 19th over to seal the win. He was well supported by Kieron Pollard, who scored 15 runs from 7 games and was adjudged player of the match after finishing with figures of 2/8 from one over.   

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The win takes Mumbai to fifth on the table, with 10 points from 11 games. The defending champions are level on points with fourth-placed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who boast a better net run rate than Mumbai. 

Earlier, Aiden Markram (42) and Deepak Hooda (28) helped Punjab get to a competitive target after another under-par showing from the batting order. Skipper Rahul scored a 22-ball 21, while Chris Gayle was dismissed after scoring just one from four deliveries.