With nothing left to play for, Sunrisers Hyderabad having killed their play-off chances with a win over Rajasthan Royals Thursday night, it was quite pleasant to see Kings XI Punjab still finding a motivation to win.
With Mumbai Indians playing to keep the top spot and Kings XI left with no aim, it could have been a fitting adieu for Adam Gilchrist or the relief of ending on a positive note, but the hosts who put 183/8 on board, looked every bit of a good side in their 50-run win here at HPCA stadium on Saturday. And, it indeed turned out to be a memorable one for Gilly.
He not only walked out triumphant but also broke into dance right on the field when he decided to bowl the last over, Praveen Kumar keeping the wickets, and finished the match right with his very first ball. Harbhajan Singh failed to read his mysterious off-spin and the innings ended at 133 in 19.1 overs as Dhawal Kulkarni was injured and couldn’t come to bat.
The lap of honour from Kings XI, with Gilchrist leading the pack, a souvenir wicket in his hand and the whole stadium giving a standing ovation provided the perfect endnote.
It’s altogether another matter that they failed to start and continue the way they ended — winning their last three matches, two of them keeping their hopes alive.
The visitors, much to the spectators’ disappointment, went into the match without Sachin Tendulkar. local boy Rishi Dhawan added to his skipper Rohit Sharma’s decision to bowl first by initiating Kings XI poor start in the second over. Mandeep Singh, who had started the tournament with some good knocks, continued with the lesser form of late as he ended up setting up an easy catch for Kieron Pollard at mid-off. He had contributed one run, Gilchrist having added the other one.
The wicketkeeper-skipper was also quick to depart at five in the over off Nathan Coulter-Nile, leaving it for the others to make efforts for his parting gift.
Man of the match Azhar Mahmood and Shaun Marsh responded to the call with élan.
The duo spared none and put up 148 runs together to give Mumbai Indians a wake-up call before the qualifiers in case they had become over-confident due to their near-perfect run. The Pakistani veteran was particularly unforgiving towards the rival attack that lost Kulkarni when he was bowling his first over and went out with a side sprain after having bowled four deliveries.
Mahmood’s four sixes and eight boundaries not only helped him quickly gather 80 runs in 44 balls as Marsh played the role of second fiddle perfectly. The Australian didn’t go for anything above the ropes, but kept it safe with 11 boundaries to contribute an important 63 off 47 balls.
Though David Miller could only add six and Manan Vohra was unbeaten on 20, the side could have added a few more to their 183 had Gurkeerat Singh, Piyush Chawla and Praveen not lost their wickets in the last over, to lasith Malinga.
Mumbai Indians’ start was almost similar to that of Kings XI as Glenn Maxwell and Aditya Tare were back in the dugout quite early. Praveen had just opened the bowling of the second half, beaten Maxwell on first two and the third one saw the batsman edging it to Manan. Tare had made 22 off 12 with the help two boundaries and two sixes when Sandeep Sharma knocked off his stump. Ambati Rayudu and Rohit tried to stamp the side’s authority once again but Parvinder Awana restricted Rayudu to 26 in the ninth over, Gilly as good as ever behind the wickets. New man Dinesh Karthik followed quick on his heels, Chawla taking the catch off his own delivery in the next over to send him back at naught.
After Chawla got Rohit’s (25 off 25) timber in the 12th, the visitors’ score was 78/5 and Pollard looked the only hope. He, however, was in no mood. After trying to get caught by Chawla twice at long off, the first turning out to be a no ball and the second not out due to free hit, he finally tried Miller at long on the third one. The South African made no mistake to send him back at 22 and give Sandeep another wicket.
Mahmood got Dhawan at 14and followed it with packing off Coulter-Nile at nine in the penultimate over.
With 51 required from the last over, Gilchrist gave all another chance to remember him forever when he chose to display his bowling skills and struck gold at the first strike, Gurkeerat taking Harbhajan’s catch to make the skipper do a mix of Gangnam and other unidentifiable styles for a script-perfect end to his career and Kings XI’s cut-short campaign.
Brief Scores
KXIP: 183/8 (Mahmood 80, Marsh 63; Malinga 3/39) beat MI: 133 (Rayudu 26, Rohit 25; Mahmood 2/24) by 50 runs.