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Inglis and Priyansh steer Punjab Kings to a top-two finish

football26 May 2025 18:20
By:CS Chiwanza
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Josh Inglis and Priyansh Arya unfurled an array of shots to register half-centuries and steer the Punjab Kings to a seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in their Tata Indian Premier League contest at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, on Monday night.

At the toss, the coin fell in favour of the Punjab Kings, and their captain, Shreyas Iyer, elected to bowl first. Iyer's bowlers answered his call and did a brilliant job of restricting Mumbai to 184 for seven.

The victory lifts the Punjab Kings to the top of the table and a guaranteed top-two finish before the playoffs. They will meet either the Royal Challengers Bangalore or the Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier on 29 May.

At the innings break, Suryakumar Yadav shared that he felt that his side was between 10 and 15 runs short of a winning total. The Mumbai star was spot on, his side was beaten with nine balls to spare in the match. The Punjab Kings batted with so much freedom and control that they did not appear to have any scoreboard pressure as they went about their innings.

“The way the wicket played, we were 20 runs short… Our batting needed to capitalise to get 20 more,” Hardik Pandya, the Mumbai captain, shared after the contest.

Josh Inglis showed his range as he galloped to a maiden IPL half-century and a new career-best score in the tournament. The Australian needed 29 deliveries to register the milestone. He came into the match with a high score of 32. He more than doubled that tally with his 73 from 42 deliveries. His innings came to an end when he was trapped lbw by Mitchell Santner while trying to execute the paddle.

Inglis shared a match-winning 109-run second-wicket partnership with Priyansh Arya. The 24-year-old has enjoyed brilliant form at the top of the order for the Punjab Kings, and he maintained the momentum with a wonderful 62 from 35 balls. This is his second IPL half-century, and he faced 27 balls to reach it.

“I said maybe four or five games in that Priyansh is one of the finds of the tournament. Hard to argue with now. Fearless young talent seeing and hitting the ball,” Ricky Ponting, the Punjab Kings coach, said after the contest.

Inglis and Priyansh joined forces after Prabhsimran Singh's dismissal early in the innings. The opener was taken out of his misery by Jasprit Bumrah for a hard-fought 13 off 16 balls. Prabhsimran just couldn't hit the ball off the square. Inglis and Priyansh's partnership was succeeded by a 28-run third-wicket stand between Inglis and his captain, Iyer.

Inglis and Priyansh's innings carried on from the base laid by their bowlers, who did well to restrict Mumbai to a total below 190. South African seamer Marco Jansen returned favourable figures of two wickets for 34 runs in four overs in his last match for the Punjab Kings this season. The tall left-armer took the important wickets of Ryan Rickelton, who has enjoyed an outstanding debut IPL season, and Hardik Pandya.

“Jansen is a high-quality individual, tough to replace him. Got Jamieson in tonight to ensure he got a game before Marco left. Every team's missing players, we'd like to think we've got good depth and be able to cover for Marco despite it being a big miss,” Ponting explained.

However, Arshdeep Singh was the most successful bowler for the Punjab Kings with two wickets for 28 runs in four overs. Vijaykumar Vyshak also finished with a brace of wickets, however, he conceded 44 runs in his four overs.

Unfortunately for Mumbai, Rickelton, Rohit Sharma, Will Jacks, and Naman Dhir failed to kick on after promising starts. All four got to 20, but none breached the 30-run mark. The result was that Suryakumar Yadav was left alone to shoulder the burden to shepherd Mumbai to a competitive total.

The India white-ball captain motored to a 39-ball 57 runs. This is the 34-year-old's fifth half-century of the season and the 29th of his IPL career. He addressed 34 deliveries to reach the milestone. However, his effort wasn't enough to cancel out Mumbai's slow start and launch them to a winning score. Mumbai managed only 83 runs in the first 10 overs.

Mumbai's bowlers struggled to tie down the Punjab Kings batters. Only Mitchell Santner and Jasprit Bumrah took wickets in the contest. Santner finished with two wickets for 41 runs in four overs, while Bumrah took a single wicket for 23 runs in four overs.

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