Man of the Match: The vice-captain of Mumbai Indians was awarded with the Match award for playing his career-best innings tonight.
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During the 27th match of the ongoing 14th season of the Indian Premier League between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in Delhi, Mumbai Indians beat Chennai Super Kings by 4 wickets to register their fourth victory this season.
Asked to bat first by Indians captain Rohit Sharma, Super Kings had put on board a formidable 218/4 in 20 overs. It was a 108-run partnership for the second wicket between opening batsman Faf du Plessis (50) and all-rounder Moeen Ali (58) which laid a solid foundation for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men.
In a spot of bother after losing three quick wickets in the middle overs, Chennai benefited on the back of Ambati Rayudu scoring a whirlwind 72* (27) with the help of four fours and seven sixes.
Man of the Match MI vs CSK IPL 2021
Chasing a mammoth 219-run target, defending champions Mumbai stayed alive in the chase primarily because of vice-captain Kieron Pollard’s 16th IPL half-century. Coming in to bat at No. 5 in the 10th over, Pollard brought back his team into the match when they needed 138 runs from 62 deliveries.
In what was his 53rd T20 half-century, it was also his career-best score in the biggest T20 tournament. Pollard, who is known for playing these freaky innings each year to win matches out of nowhere, stood tall on his reputation to win one more cliffhanger for MI.
What a game !! My man!!! @KieronPollard55 🙌🏻 you beauty !!‘ great knock from @RayuduAmbati aswell !! #MIvCSK
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) May 1, 2021
A veteran of 171 IPL T20s, Pollard scored a mind-blowing 87* (34) with the help of six fours and eight sixes making the most of a reprieve given by du Plessis in the business end of the match. Pollard, who was also the pick of the Mumbai bowlers with bowling figures of 2-0-12-2, was declared the ‘Man of the Match’ at the Arun Jaitley Stadium tonight.
“I want to thank god, uncle Steven, giving me the strength. They’d just lost Moeen [Ali], it was the best tome for a seamer to come and bowl. It worked, I got two wickets and another over. They had four overs of spin to bowl on a small ground, I was trying to hit them. I had to maximise against [Ravindra] Jadeja. Couple of sixes were always going to keep us in the game,” Pollard told Star Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.