Punjab Kings made the playoffs this season for the first time since 2014. They ended their league engagements in style having ensured a berth in the top-two of the standings.
The Shreyas Iyer-led team defeated Mumbai Indians by seven wickets with nine balls remaining in Jaipur on Monday and earned a shot at direct entry into the final.
Chasing a tricky 185-run target, Priyansh Arya (62 off 35 balls) and Josh Inglis (73 off 42) added 109 off 59 balls for the second wicket to set up the victory. Shreyas compiled a composed 26 not out off 16 balls to provide the finishing touch.
Mumbai Indians will now play the Eliminator, with the final playoffs line-up to be decided on Tuesday. A Royal Challengers Bengaluru win over Lucknow Super Giants will set up their clash with Punjab Kings in Qualifier 1. A defeat will see RCB meet Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator on May 30.
If RCB lose on Tuesday, Punjab Kings will meet Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1.
Five-time champions Mumbai Indians’ poor record in Jaipur continues. The chase was one-sided once Priyansh got going in the Powerplay.
Tricky pitch
Earlier, Arshdeep Singh bowled a superb final over, giving away only three runs and picking up two wickets, but couldn’t prevent Mumbai Indians from reaching 184/7 on a tricky wicket.
Suryakumar Yadav led the charge with 57 off 39 balls and was largely responsible for Mumbai getting 101 runs in the last 10 overs following a sedate start.
His innings included six boundaries and two sixes before being trapped leg before by a yorker off the final delivery of the innings.
The penultimate over of the innings by Vijaykumar Vyshak yielded 23 runs
with Naman Dhir slamming two sixes and Surya two boundaries.
Sedate start
It was the sort of wicket which allowed the batters to be aggressive from the outset.
Mumbai opener Ryan Rickelton did strike some early boundaries but was forced to curb his explosive instincts.
Rohit Sharma was cautious though, as he slashed and missed outside the off stump. As Shreyas turned to spin in the form of Harpreet Brar, Rohit seemed to return to his elements. But he didn’t last long.
