 The Mumbai Indians lost to the Kings XI Punjab in a stunning upset as they
crashed to 87 all out in reply to the opposition's more than 160 that they scored.
However, that did not change things at all for the points table which still sees
the Mumbai Indians at the top of the table and the Kings XI Punjab struggling
to stay afloat in the table.
The Mumbai Indians decided to field first and allowed Adam Gilchrist
and Shaun Marsh to get away with a score of more than 90 in 11 overs. The run
rate continued to remain the same even as the wickets fell and the side ended
with 163 on the board. Munaf Patel got five wickets while Malinga added
two more to his bourgeoning tally of wickets that is seeing no end to stopping.
However, in reply, the Mumbai Indians lost wickets at such a regular interval
that it hardly looked like it was a top side in flight. The batsmen gave away
wickets at regular intervals whereas the highest score was only 17. Pollard, was
out in the 13th over, which incidentally turned out to be the last over of the
Mumbai Indians innings.
This means that the Mumbai Indians have now lost three games in the competition
after having eight. They are at the top of the table with 16 points from 11 games.
However, they are still ahead of the two teams with 14 points from their 11 games
- Chennai and Kolkata. Interestingly, the Bangalore side has 13 from 10 and a
win in their 11th game will put them at the sole second position with 15 from
11 - thus, the top four will be then read, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata,
with 16, 15, 14 and 14 points respectively.
This puts the pressure on the likes of Rajasthan and Kochi, both of whom have
an outside chance of making it into the top four. Rajasthan has 11 points from
11 games and play Bangalore next - a game that will effectively decide which team
goes through. Kochi have 10 from 11 and have games against the Kings XI Punjab,
Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, all difficult games.
Rajasthan follow their game against Bangalore with Kochi and Mumbai, while Bangalore
play Rajasthan, Kolkata, Punjab and Chennai.
Punjab could just prove to be the game-changers in the tournament.
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