Suryakumar fifty helps MI huff and puff to 184

Suryakumar Yadav converted his record 14th straight score of 25 or more in T20s with a 39-ball 57 as Mumbai Indians set Punjab Kings 185 for a place in the top two. Suryakumar felt the surface at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur was "challenging" and they may have been "10-15 short."

Suryakumar came in at No. 3 in the sixth over and batted right through until the final over. Along the way, he helped ride through a wobbly middle phase, before accelerating superbly towards the end with Naman Dhir.

The penultimate over, Vijaykumar Vyshak's fourth, went for 23 to raise hopes of a grandstand finish. Arshdeep Singh then nailed his yorkers superbly in a gun final over that went for just three runs as PBKS closed out the innings superbly.

Suryakumar and Dhir aside, there was a key lower middle-order contribution from Hardik Pandya (26 off 15). This injected momentum before the final lift-off as they finished with a total they will be confident of defending, even if a tad under-par in Suryakumar's words.

Playing his final game of the season before he leaves for national duties, South Africa's Ryan Rickelton did the early running until Rohit Sharma caught up. Rohit, who had been dismissed by left-arm seamers four times this season struggled a touch early on against Arshdeep and Marco Jansen, but seemed to get into his groove as he took the attack to Harpreet Brar in the powerplay.

He first stepped out imperiously to hit him over long-on and then lofting him inside-out over cover. It needed a Nehal Wadhera stunner at long-on to send him back for 24.

Rohit's dismissal followed a choppy middle phase where they lost two wickets in quick succession, before Hardik, who'd batted just 39 balls in the last six games, injected momentum along with Suryakumar, who brought up his half-century off 34 balls. While MI made 53 off the last five, there was a sense that they may have missed out on a few extra runs.

Vyshak, playing only his third game of the season, was on track to be the pick of the bowlers until he leaked two fours and two sixes in his final over to finish with 2 for 44. Arshdeep and Jansen too picked up two wickets apiece.