Ishan, Surya fireworks carry MI to impressive win over Punjab Kings in IPL 2023

The MI batters hit rapid fifties and raised a century partnership to chase down PBKS’ 214 in Mohali, led by Livingstone's 41-ball 82 not out.

It did not come as a surprise when Mumbai Indians (MI) retained Suryakumar Yadav at a massive price of ₹8 crore ahead of the mega auction for this IPL edition. The 32-year-old batter had been phenomenal for MI in IPL and earned his India call-up because of that.

Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav during the IPL 2023 cricket match between Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, in Mohali(PTI)

Coming into IPL 2023 with a fabulous reputation, MI were keen for Yadav to produce match-winning knocks with 360-degree shotmaking that can change games in no time. Surya produced another brilliant 66 (31b, 8x4, 2x6) as MI chased down their second 200-plus total in a row.

When Punjab Kings amassed 214/3 on home turf, they would have felt confident of defending the total. After all, they had scored exactly that score (214/8) at Wankhede on April 22 and won by 13 runs. But MI this time found opener Ishan Kishan too in sensational form (75 – 41b, 7x4, 4x6) as he and Surya helped guide the team home with seven balls to spare.

When Kishan got out, MI needed 37 off 23 balls and their designated finishers Tilak Varma (26*, 10b) and Tim David (19* - 10b) knocked them off without ado. MI are still in the table while the defeat kept Punjab seventh with both teams on 10 points.

Kishan and Surya stitched a match-winning partnership of 116 runs. Punjab Kings all-rounder Sam Curran is IPL’s most expensive cricketer ever but was hammered by Surya and Kishan. Curran leaked 41 runs off three overs.

Surya, playing as the impact player, hit his highest score of this IPL, and his third half-century in four innings. Kishan found his second fifty, not having cashed in on a few starts after his first half-century against KKR. When Surya was dismissed, a firm cut taken on second attempt at third man by Arshdeep Singh off Nathan Ellis, MI still needed 45 runs, but Varma and David eased the team home.

PBKS though must be disappointed with their bowling effort after their batters scored their fourth consecutive 200-run plus total, this time on a batting pitch. Liam Livingstone hit a brilliant unbeaten 42-ball 82 not out (7x4, 4x6). Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (30) and Matthew Short (27) made contributions. Jitesh Sharma hit 49* (27b, 5x4, 2x6) and raised an unbroken 119 off 52 balls with Livingstone.

There was much chatter about Livingstone’s availability before this IPL. Having suffered a knee injury on Test debut in Pakistan, he missed some initial games. The 29-year-old England batter though came into his own on Wednesday.

PBKS were 95/3 just after the halfway stage, but Sharma and Livingstone kept smashing with only an excellent final over by Akash Madhwal – he gave away just nine runs – slowing them down in the end.