Indian stars Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav smashed blistering half-centuries to help Mumbai Indians chase down 215 in a six-wicket IPL win over Punjab Kings on Wednesday.
Kishan (75) and Suryakumar (66) put on a key third-wicket partnership of 116 before Tim David and Tilak Varma steered the team home with seven balls to spare in the second match of the day in Mohali.
Varma smashed the winning six in his 10-ball 26, and David, who starred in his team’s previous match, made 19 as the two combined in an unbeaten stand of 38.
“When we started T20 format, 140-150 was a winning score. But look at this one,” Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma said.
“Plus one extra batter makes a huge difference as well. Not just to us but across the IPL. I just checked that the average score this IPL is 180.”
The batting effort boosted Mumbai’s chances of making the play-offs and trumped an unbeaten 82 by Punjab’s Liam Livingstone.
Mumbai switched places with Punjab to be sixth in the 10-team table led by holders Gujarat Titans.
Rohit went for a duck in the first over of Mumbai’s chase and impact sub Nathan Ellis sent back fellow Australian Cameron Green for 23.
The left-handed Kishan, who was named man of the match, and Suryakumar, who has recently hit form after a bad start this season, turned the match around with a flurry of fours and sixes.
Suryakumar raised his second successive fifty in 23 balls with two sixes and two fours off Punjab’s expensive England import Sam Curran.
