MUMBAI: Sam Curran justified his top billing with a splendid 29-ball-55 as Punjab Kings lifted themselves from a precarious position to post a commendable 214 for 8 against Mumbai Indians in an IPL match on Saturday.
A 92-run stand for the eighth wicket with Harpreet Bhatia (41 off 28 balls) changed the course of the game with 131 runs coming in the back-10.
Arjun Tendulkar (1/48 in 3 overs), who had a couple of impressive games first up, had a good opening spell but went for 31 in his third over as 69 runs were yielded between overs 16-18. Jofra Archer and Cameron Green went for 13 and 25 respectively in the 17th and 18th over.
But the hero undoubtedly was Curran, who hit his first fifty of IPL this season and Bhatia made a 28-ball 41 (4x4s, 2x6s) while adding 92 runs from 50 balls for the fifth wicket to power Punjab Kings to a daunting total. This was after MI bowlers strangulated their middle-order post a promising start.
Curran struck five fours and four sixes to help Punjab Kings bounce back strongly here at the Wankhede Stadium after they lost way in the middle overs, leading a strong recovery.
Punjab Kings were 97/4 after 13 overs but courtesy brilliant efforts from Curran, Bhatia and Jitesh Sharma, they added 117 runs in the last seven overs, with 96 runs coming on the last 30 balls.
Punjab wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma also provided later fireworks, hitting four sixes in his seven-ball 25 before being cleaned up by Jason Behrendorff in the last over.
Piyush Chawla bowled a measly spell of 3-0-15-2 as Punjab Kings, whose batting looked directionless in the absence of their regular captain and the team's best batter this season in Shikhar Dhawan, appeared to be heading for a moderate total.
