Hashim Amla scored a wonderful century for the Kings XI Punjab in Indore on Thursday, but the Mumbai Indians are on such a roll at the moment, that they made a mockery out of a chase of 199.
Thanks to Amla's brilliant 104 not out (60b, 8x4, 6x6), KXIP got to a really good score of 198 for four in their 20 overs in Match 22 of IPL 2017.
The Mumbai Indians made that 198 look like 118, finishing off the Kings XI Punjab in just xx overs, with Jos Buttler (77, 37b, 7x4, 5x6) playing his best IPL innings to date.
With the wicket playing really true, Buttler and Parthiv Patel decided to go hell for leather from ball one, and boy did they execute that plan well.
The Mumbai Indians openers put on 81 runs together in 5.5 overs, taking full advantage of the new ball coming nicely onto the bat and the fielding restrictions.
While Parthiv (37, 18b, 4x4, 2x6) fell off the fifth ball of the final Powerplay over, to a slow ball from Marcus Stoinis, the damage was pretty much already done.
From a required run rate of nearly 10, that onslaught had brought it all down to 8.35, and with Buttler in the mood that he was in, it was as easy as an apple pie from there.
Buttler just kept on going, hitting massive sixes, with Nitish Rana (62 n.o., 34b, 7x6), one of MI's best batsmen so far in IPL 2017, doing his bit at the other end as well.
Rana and Buttler added 85 runs together in 7.2 overs, leaving the Kings XI Punjab completely stunned and unable to understand just what had hit them.
Earlier, it was the Amla show for KXIP, with the great South African scoring his first ever century in T20 cricket.
After Shaun Marsh (26, 21b, 5x4), playing his first game of IPL 2017, gave his team a solid start, Amla and Glenn Maxwell got together from the 12th over, to give Kings XI Punjab the impetus they needed.
The two put on a splendid partnership of 83 runs from just 5.3 overs. While Maxwell tore into Mitchell McClenaghan in one over, which went for 28 runs, courtesy three sixes and two fours, Amla smashed Lasith Malinga all over the park, with the Sri Lanka finishing with figures of 4-0-58-0 – of those 58 runs, 51 came off Amla's bat.
That blitz from Maxwell (40, 18b, 4x4, 3x6) an Amla set Kings XI up for a score of around 200, and while they made 198, the Mumbai Indians took the chase to another level to notch their fifth consecutive win of the Indian Premier League this season.
Watch the highlights of Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians
IPL 2017: KXIP vs MI scorecard:
Toss: Mumbai Indians won the toss and chose to bowl.
KXIP: 198/4 in 20 overs.
Mumbai Indians: 199/2 in 15.3 overs.
Result: MI won by eight wickets with 27 balls to spare.
Bowling: Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya 2-0-18-0; Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-46-2; Harbhajan Singh 2-0-12-0; Lasith Malinga 4-0-58-0; Krunal Pandya 4-0-29-1; Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-30-1.
KXIP: Sandeep Sharma 3-0-39-0; Ishant Sharma 4-0-58-0; Mohit Sharma 2.3-0-29-1; Marcus Stoinis 2-0-28-1; Axar Patel 2-0-20-0; Swapnil Singh 2-0-22-0.
Fall of wickets: KXIP: 46/1, Shaun Marsh (5.5 overs); 80/2, Wriddhiman Saha (11 overs); 163/3, Glenn Maxwell (16.3 overs); 166/4, Marcus Stoinis (17.2 overs).
Mumbai Indians: 81/1, Parthiv Patel (5.5 overs); 166/2, Jos Buttler (13.1 overs).
