Hardik blitzkrieg powers MI to 170/5 against MI

Riding Hardik Pandya's blitzkrieg, Mumbai Indians creamed 29 runs in the final over to reach 170 for five against Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League here Wednesday.

Sent into bat, Suryakumar Yadav compiled a half century to lay the foundation for Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.

Before Hardik's eight-ball 25 and Kieron Pollard's seven-ball 17, Yadav stroked his way to 59 in 43 balls against the CSK attack that kept the MI batsmen on a tight least till the last few overs.

Yadav, who hit eight fours and a six, also put on a half century stand with Krunal Pandya (42 in 32 balls) to revive MI's floundering innings.

Towards the end, Hardik and Pollard struck big to remain unbeaten and boosted the total with the former striking three sixes and one four and the latter hitting twice over the ropes. The founder of the helicopter shot, Mahendra Singh, watched from behind as Hardik used it to good effect.

MI had a slow start and also lost the wicket of Quinton de Kock in the third over with only eight runs on the board.

The arrival of Yadav to the crease quickened the run rate as he played handsome drives in front of the wicket on both sides off Deepak Chahar, who he hit for three fours in one over, and Shardul Thakur, who gave away three boundaries in his second over.

Thanks to the stroke-filled start by Yadav, MI ended with 40 on the board at the end of power play, but then lost skipper Rohit Sharma off the first ball of the eighth over, caught behind off Ravindra Jadeja for 13.

Yuvraj Singh, too, flopped, caught just inside the boundary line to leave MI at 50 for three in the ninth over.

Yadav and Krunal revived the sagging innings with a stand of 62 in 49 balls for the fourth wicket.

The latter struck two successive fours off Mohit Sharma to push up the run rate but was lucky to be let off at 17 off Dwayne Bravo in the 13th over.

Krunal successfully reviewed a leg before decision given against him off Shardul Thakur after adding a run to his score. Emboldened, the left hander lofted Tahir over long on for the first six of the innings, in the 15th over, at the end of which MI were 93 for three.

Krunal was finally caught at long off, miscuing while trying to hit Mohit Sharma for the third four in the 17th over. He struck five fours and a six in his 32-ball knock.