Rohit's class, Pollard and Hardik's power give MI 48-run win
Abu Dhabi: Rohit Sharma's elegance mingled with the belligerence of his two six-hitting lieutenants as Mumbai Indians humbled Kings XI Punjab by 48 runs in an IPL match here on Thursday.
Invited to bat, the classy Rohit laid the foundation with a 45-ball 70, lacing his innings with eight fours and three sixes.
Then, the duo of Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya smashed fours and sixes at will, scoring 67 runs in 23 balls to lift MI to 191 for four from 83 for three in the 14th over.
Chasing a stiff target of 192, Kings XI Punjab were stopped at 143 for eight, with Nicholas Pooran making 44 off 27 balls.
Earlier, Pollard walked out unbeaten on a 20-ball 47, while Hardik remained not out on 30 off 11 balls, the two hitting six sixes and as many fours between them.
MI got 25 runs in the final over with Pollard sending Krishnappa Gowtham's last three balls into the stands of the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, scored 19 off the penultimate over and 18 in the 18th.
A total of 104 runs came in the last 36 balls despite one excellent over in between by Mohammed Shami.
MI was 87 for three at the end of the 14th over but upped the ante with Pollard and Rohit hitting a six each off leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi to collect 15 runs from the 15th over.
Rohit scored 22 runs off the 16th over bowled by James Neesham.
It was then left to the pair of Pollard and Hardik to launch a brutal onslaught.
The start was inauspicious for the defending champions as Sheldon Cottrell castled Quinton de Kock with a late swing.
Smashed for five sixes in an over in his previous outing, it was a new day, a new game for Cottrell, as he started with a wicket maiden.
Rohit reached 5000 IPL runs with a glorious cover drive off his first ball of the innings, joining Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina in the club.
Three balls later, Rohit punched one along the ground through the cover-point region for another boundary.
Shami came back to hit the pads and forced the umpire to raise his finger with a vociferous appeal. However, the decision was turned down after a review as the ball seemed to be going down the leg-stump.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi was introduced into the attack in the fourth over and while Shami could not strike with the ball first up, the India pacer ran out Suryakumar Yadav with a direct hit from short fine leg to leave MI at 21 for two in the fourth over.
Rohit gave himself some room and played Gowtham between mid-off and extra cover and cut the next ball through the point region for another fine boundary.
Having reached 14 off 21 balls, Ishan Kishan lofted Bishnoi for a massive six over deep mid-wicket to break the shackles.
Kishan soon got out to pave the way for Pollard's entry.
In reply, KXIP lost wickets at regular intervals to lose their second match on the trot. They were never in the game after losing the wickets of the in-form opening duo of skipper KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, even though Pooran played a few handsome shots.
For Mumbai Indians, there were two wickets apiece for James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, and Jasprit Bumrah.
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Surat LS candidate Nilesh Kumbhani whose nomination form was rejected suspended from Congress
Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.
Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.
