In Match 33 of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) on Thursday, April 18, at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh, the Punjab Kings (PBKS) lost by nine runs to the Mumbai Indians (MI), marking their third straight loss. Mumbai was given the opportunity to bat first and, thanks to a standout innings from Suryakumar Yadav (78 off 53), managed to amass a massive 192/7 in the allowed 20 overs.
With stats of 3/31 in four overs, Harshal Patel emerged as Punjab’s best bowler. In response, Punjab nearly reached the goal thanks to brilliant performances from Ashutosh Sharma (61 off 28) and Shashank Singh (41 off 25), but were ultimately bowled out for 183 in 19.1 overs.
Punjab now sits in the ninth position in the points table, having won two of their past seven games and accrued four points after their defeat. The Gujarat Titans (GT) will be their opponent on Sunday, April 21, at the same location. They then have two difficult games scheduled back-to-back against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
The next four games will see the Punjab Kings play CSK twice.
Punjab has to turn things around and win three of the next four games in order to stay in the playoff hunt. They have seven games left in the competition, and if they win six of those games, they will have 16 points. But if they lose multiple games, other clubs will have the power to determine their destiny because their outcomes may have a significant impact on them.
Also read: IPL 2024: Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians, 33rd Match – Who Said What?
In order to prevent this kind of situation, Punjab must win six of their final seven games and end with 16 points in the standings. To win with 14 points, though, they will need to raise their net run rate, which is -0.251. Punjab, who are already without their skipper Shikhar Dhawan because of a shoulder injury, have a difficult road ahead of them.
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