Mumbai, Apr 17:
Quinton de Kock’s fine hundred went in vain as Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas Iyer blasted blistering fifties to steer Punjab Kings to a seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in their IPL match here on Thursday.
Sent in to bat, De Kock blasted a scintillating unbeaten 60-ball 112 to power Mumbai Indians to 195 for six.
De Kock forged a 122-run alliance off 68 balls with Naman Dhir (50) and then added another 41 off 23 with skipper Hardik Pandya (14).
Arshdeep Singh (3/22) claimed three wickets, while Shashank Singh (1/19) took one.
Chasing the total, Prabhsimran (80 not out off 39 balls) and skipper Iyer (66 off 35 balls) shared a match-winning 139-run stand off 67 balls for the third wicket as Punjab overhauled the target in 16.3 overs.
Shreyas Iyer, PBKS captain, said, “Certainly confident and optimistic going forward. I think the way we’ve been playing so far, it’s phenomenal. And also at the same time, you’ve got our heads on our shoulders. We know that each and every game that we’re going to come on to the field, it’s going to be important for us as a team and as a unit.”
” So it’s a collective effort overall and I’m glad that today we came up and we got that comprehensive victory. (on Prabhsimran) I think he has certainly raised up his bar, considering the last season where he was going in the power play, just swinging wild. Even though getting runs, he was giving us excellent starts. But this time I feel that, you know, he’s got that maturity to finish off the game. And it’s great to see youngsters coming up and finishing off the games, taking the responsibility and saying that, okay, I’m going to win the match for the team. So phenomenal player, talent, and other than that, I feel that the more matches he’s getting, he’s actually getting mature more and more”.