A look at some interesting stats from Mumbai's 48-run victory over Punjab

A Pollard-Pandya show in the closing stage of Mumbai's innings brought the defending champions back to the winning ways, as they defeated Punjab by 48 runs - their biggest victory margin over Punjab (by runs) - to return to the top of the Indian T20 League standings, temporarily enough.

Mumbai, who were coming on the back of a defeat, put on a dominant display both with the bat and the ball. They did have a slow start after having put into bat by Punjab captain KL Rahul, but a sturdy partnership between Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya brought them right into the game as the team posted 191/4 on board. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar and James Pattinson carried the momentum with the ball to restrict Punjab to 143/8 in 20 overs.

Having said that, let's have a look at some of the key stats from the game.

Record-breaking innings for Sharma and Mumbai:

The Mumbai captain, Rohit Sharma, scored his second half-century of Indian T20 League 2020 on Thursday, this time notching 70 off just 45 deliveries, which included eight fours and three sixes, once again proving why he is one of the best players in the shortest format of the game. In the process, the 33-year-old became only the third batsman to score 5000 IPL runs – behind Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina. Furthermore, this quick-fire knock was his third-best return against Punjab in the league.

There were further milestones as well. This was Sharma’s 38^th half-century in the league, which is now the joint second-most in the league alongside Suresh Raina, with only David Warner head of the duo with 44 half-centuries. A whopping 71.43% of Sharma’s 70 runs came through boundaries, with the opener hitting most of his runs (26) on covers and mid-wicket (16).

Sharma's departure left Mumbai in tantrums, and for all right reason. The team, after the end of 14th over, had posted just 87/3. The team then went on to score a whopping 89 runs in the last five overs, with the likes of Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya combining for 67 runs to take Mumbai all the way to 191/4, which is now their highest total while batting first against Punjab.

Table: Highest team total posted by Mumbai against Punjab while batting first. 

Punjab pacers on two different end of spectrum

Sheldon Cottrell gave Punjab a glaring start by dismissing Quinton de Kock in the very first over, which was, in fact, a wicket-maiden. He did concede 10 and seven in his second and third over respectively, but the West Indies pacer made a brilliant comeback in his fourth and final over, giving away just three runs. The 31-year-old Jamaican ended with a figure of 20/1, which is now his most economical spell of the ongoing edition.

Table: Most economical spells by Sheldon Cottrell in Indian T20 League 2020.

While Cottrell kept Mumbai in check, a certain Jimmy Neesham was hit all around the park. Bought into attack in the seventh over, the New Zealand all-rounder did great initially, conceding just 12 in his first two overs before being hit for 22 runs by Rohit Sharma in the third. In his final over, the Kiwi gave away 18 and ended his night with an unwanted figure of 52/0, his worst ever spell in the competition.

Table: Most runs conceded by Jimmy Neesham in an innings in Indian T20 League.

Feature image courtesy: Twitter / @IndianT20League