Sam Curran FIFTY: Most Expensive player of IPL 2023 continues to deliver. Sam Curran, the newly established all-rounder, turned on his beast mode at the Wankhede Stadium to blow away the likes of Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff and Cameron Green besides Arjun Tendulkar. The stand-in skipper of Punjab Kings smashed 29 ball 55, laced with five fours and four sixes to rip apart Mumbai Indians attack on Saturday to justify every Rs in his 18.5 Cr price tag. Follow IPL 2023 LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
It’s raining sixes in Mumbai 🌧️
Half-century comes up for @PunjabKingsIPL skipper @CurranSM 👏👏#PBKS nearing the 200-run mark now!
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/FfkwVPpj3s #TATAIPL | #MIvPBKS pic.twitter.com/8ma8iLaP9v
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 22, 2023
Despite starting slowly, Sam Curran changed gears at will. A 92-run stand for the eighth wicket with Harpreet Bhatia (41 off 28 balls) changed the course of the game with 131 runs coming in the back-10.
Arjun Tendulkar (1/48 in 3 overs), who had a couple of impressive games first up, had a good opening spell but went for 31 in his third over as 69 runs were yielded between overs 16-18. Jofra Archer and Cameron Green went for 13 and 25 respectively in the 17th and 18th over.
Curran struck five fours and four sixes to help Punjab Kings bounce back strongly here at the Wankhede Stadium after they lost way in the middle overs, leading a strong recovery.
Punjab Kings were 97/4 after 13 overs but courtesy brilliant efforts from Curran, Bhatia and Jitesh Sharma, they added 117 runs in the last seven overs, with 96 runs coming on the last 30 balls.
Punjab wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma also provided later fireworks, hitting four sixes in his seven-ball 25 before being cleaned up by Jason Behrendorff in the last over.
Piyush Chawla bowled a measly spell of 3-0-15-2 as Punjab Kings, whose batting looked directionless in the absence of their regular captain and the team’s best batter this season in Shikhar Dhawan, appeared to be heading for a moderate total.
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