• Kishan, Suryakumar blast Mumbai to victory

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    Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav smashed blistering half-centuries to help the Mumbai Indians chase down 215 in a six-wicket IPL win over the Punjab Kings on Wednesday.

    Kishan (75 off 41 balls) and Suryakumar (66 off 31) put on a key third-wicket partnership of 116 before Tim David and Tilak Varma steered the team home with seven balls to spare in Mohali.

    The left-handed Varma smashed the winning six in his 10-ball 26, and David, who starred in his team’s previous match, made 19 as the two combined in an unbeaten stand of 38.

    The batting effort boosted Mumbai’s chances of making the  playoffs and trumped an unbeaten 82 off 42 balls by Punjab’s Liam Livingstone.

    Mumbai switched places with Punjab to be sixth in the 10-team table led by holders the Gujarat Titans.

    Mumbai lost captain Rohit Sharma for a duck in the first over of their chase and impact sub Nathan Ellis sent back fellow Australian Cameron Green for 23.

    The left-handed Kishan and Suryakumar, who has recently hit form after a bad start this season, turned the match around with a flurry of fours and sixes.

    Suryakumar, or “Sky” as he is fondly called, raised his second successive fifty in 23 balls with two sixes and two fours off Punjab’s expensive England import Sam Curran.

    Arshdeep Singh cut short Suryakumar’s stay with a leaping catch at short third man off Ellis and then turned up with his left-arm pace to send back Kishan but leaked 66 runs.

    Varma and David once again ensured a second straight win for the IPL powerhouse with five titles.

    Punjab rode on an unbeaten 119-run partnership between Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma (49) to post 214-3.

    Livingstone hit the opposition bowlers to all parts of the ground in his knock and was especially severe on England teammate Jofra Archer, hitting the Mumbai pace bowler for three sixes in an over.

    Livingstone later revealed he had lunch with Archer before the game and was prepared for the challenge.

    Archer returned his most expensive IPL figures of 0-56.

    © Agence France-Presse

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    Simon Borchardt