Australia’s Josh Inglis scored 73 while coach Ricky Ponting earned special praise as Punjab Kings scored a seven-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians to secure a top two finish moving into the IPL playoffs.
Both the teams havealready secured their play-off berth along with Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the T20 tournament.
A top-two position in the final group phase table means Punjab grab one of the two spots in the first qualifier on May 29 and two shots at reaching June 3’ final.
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Chasing 185 for victory, Punjab depended on a 109-run second-wicket stand between Inglis and Priyansh Arya to achieve their target with nine balls to spare in Jaipur.
The left-handed Arya made 62 before he departed in the 15th over and Inglis fell after his first IPL fifty with the team needing another 14 to win.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Inglis hit nine fours and three sixes in his 42-ball knock, while skipper Shreyas Iyer made an unbeaten 26 off 16 balls to steer the team home.
Iyer and Ponting earned praise from Indian commentator and journalist Harsha Bhogle for the job they’d done in transforming the franchise, which will compete in the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Cricket legend Ponting joined the underperforming team on a four-year deal and has been praised for galvanising the team, including during the difficult period this month when the tournament was briefly suspended amid India-Pakistan tensions.
“We’ve had players putting their hands up when we were in the dumps,” Iyer said after Tuesday’s (AEST) win.
“(Coach) Ricky (Ponting) has been fantastic with player management, it’s important for me to get trust too.”
Ponting in turn praised Iyer, who was brought for more than $A4 million in November’s auction.
“It was pretty obvious with the amount of money we spent on him, we wanted him here,” said Ponting.
“He’s a man who has been so good and has a sparkle for captaincy, he has led this team superbly.”
Five-time champions Mumbai sit bottom of the top-four teams and will play the eliminator on May 30.
“We just want to play good cricket going forward, figure out the right template for the batting group,” Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya said.
“Not much panic though, we knew what was at stake.” Gujarat’s position will depend on the final league match between Bengaluru and Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.
The winner of the first qualifier will enter the final, while the loser will take on the winner of the second qualifier to book their spot in the title clash.
Mumbai reached 184-7 after Suryakumar Yadav top-scored with 57 off 39 deliveries to boost the total.
South Africa’s opener Ryan Rickelton hit a brisk 27 in a 44-run opening stand with Rohit Sharma, who scored 24.
Wicketkeeper Rickelton, a left-hand batter, departed in the sixth over as wickets fell at regular intervals including Rohit and England’s Will Jacks, out for 17.
Suryakumar took stock in a partnership of 44 with Pandya, who took on the opposition bowling in his 26 off 15 balls.
Pandya hit two fours and two sixes before being caught behind off South African left-arm quick Marco Jansen to put Mumbai in trouble.
Number seven Naman Dhir came out firing as he and Suryakumar, who reached his fifth half-century of the season in his 640 runs, hammered 23 off the 19th over.
Left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh took down Dhir after the batsman’s 12-ball 20 at the start of the 20th and trapped Suryakumar to finish the over with two wickets and just three runs.