It was an exhibition of brutal strokeplay as the Mumbai Indians's dangerous duo of Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya tore the Kings XI Punjab bowling apart at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
Pollard stroke a quickfire 47 from 20 balls, while Pandya smashed 30 from 11 balls, to put on an unbroken stand of 67 runs from just 23 balls for the fifth wicket to power Mumbai to a huge 191/4 in their 20 overs, after they looked set for a much-lesser score at one stage.
'It was simple, the number of times me and Pollard have done this. This is fantastic and I have always enjoyed that part,' Hardik told elder brother Krunal Pandya in a post-match conversation on iplt20.com.
'When I went (to bat) it was a clear message that I should go hard because I was looking to have some big runs in the end and get to a total where Kings find it difficult.'
'We did not aim for 192, but we were lucky enough the big man (Pollard) has done it again and I'm very proud of the way we both batted.'
After MI Captain Rohit Sharma was dismissed for a superb 70 from 45 balls in the 17th over, it was complete carnage with Pollard and Pandya taking centrestage.
Pandya hit James Neesham for two fours and a six in the 18th over, before Pollard hit Mohammed Shami for three fours in a row in the next over.
Punjab Captain K L Rahul made the mistake of giving the final over to off-spiner Krishnappa Gowtham, a gamble which failed big time.
Gowtham suffered as he was hit for four sixes in the 20th over, including three by Pollard and one by Pandya.
Pandya said it was 'mouth-watering' to have a spinner bowling the final over.
'It was very intense and it was more like mouth-watering the off-spinner bowling the 20th over. I missed two balls but Pollard made most of the runs,' Pandya said.
Punjab struggled with the bat as they finished on 143/3 to lose by 48 runs with James Pattinson, Rahul Chahal and Jasprit Bumrah picking two wickets each.
