Abu Dhabi:Jasprit Bumrah and Kieron Pollard snapped two wickets each as Mumbai Indians produced a disciplined bowling performance to restrict Punjab Kings to a below-par 135 for six in their Indian Premier League here on Tuesday.
Sent in to bat, Aiden Markram (42 off 29) was the most successful batsman for Punjab as he shared a 61-run partnership with Deepak Hooda (28) to lift their score after they were reduced to 48 for 4 in 7.3 overs.
However, once the South African was back in the hut in the 16th over, Punjab couldn't score a single boundary, managing a meagre 23 runs in the last four overs.
Pollard (2/8) and Bumrah (2/24) were the pick of the bowlers but they were supported well by Krunal Pandya (1/24), Rahul Chahar (1/27) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (0/19). Opening the innings, KL Rahul (21) looked in good touch as he played a perfect cover drive against Boult before showing the full face of the bat to Bumrah for an exquisite off drive.
Mandeep Singh (15) too picked up a couple of boundaries but Krunal Pandya trapped him when he tried to sweep across the line as Punjab lost their first wicket.
With Chris Gayle coming in, skipper Rohit Sharma handed the ball to Kieron Pollard and he struck straight away. Looking for a big hit, Gayle was holed out at long-on by Hardik Pandya.
Two balls later, Pollard picked up Rahul for his 300th wicket in T20s after the batsman pulled a short of length delivery straight to Bumrah at short fine leg.
Bumrah then produced his famous dipping yorker to trap Nicholas Pooran in front of wicket as Punjab slipped to 48 for four in 8th over.
Markram and Hooda then kept the scoreboard ticking, picking up singles of Chahar and occassional boundaries to take Punjab to 90 for 4 in 14 overs.
The South African pounced on a wider delivery off Rahul Chahar for a boundary before producing an elegant looking shot off Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Hooda, after a sluggish start, unleashed a pull off Boult for the first six of the innings.
After the second time-out, Markram changed gears as he belted Boult through extra cover and then punched one through the covers for another boundary.
He picked up another boundary off Chahar before being outfoxed by the bowler, who disturbed his off stumps.
However, Punjab couldn't get the momentum going as new man Harpreet Brar struggled to negotiate the variations of Bumrah and Coulter-Nile in the death overs.
Hooda, in desperation, then sent one up in the air only to be caught by Pollard as PBKS ended with a below-par score.
