If the nerve wrecking DC vs KXIP Super Over encounter or the record breaking 224-run chase by RR against KXIP kept the fans at the edge of their seats, then the second Super Over thriller of the season between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore could go down as perhaps the most pulsating contest of the tournament so far.
Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore looked set to win Game 10 of the IPL 2020 after Mumbai Indians required a monumental 90 runs off the last five overs or 30 balls to chase down a mammoth 202-run target at Dubai on Monday (September 29) evening.
A daunting 18 runs per over with half the side back in the pavilion seemed a near to impossible task but then came one of the most brutal assaults ever in the dying stage of the game which ensured Mumbai Indians levelled scores and force on a Super Over against RCB at Dubai..
Hard hitting left handed batsman Ishan Kishan who laboured hard at one end and kept the scoreboard ticking amid MI losing wickets of skipper Rohit Sharma, Quinton De Kock and Hardik Pandya at regular intervals, got into his striking zone and stitched an innings resurrecting century partnership with West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard.
The Kishan-Pollard duo smoked 90 runs off the last 30 deliveries to help RCB level MI's 201-run total in the regulation T20 overs. Mumbai Indians eventually went on to lose in the Super Over but Ishan Kishan stole the hearts of millions with his career best IPL knock of 99.
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Ishan Kishan played the support cast to Kieron Pollard but was equal to the task in providing the late flourish to the Mumbai Indians so as to put in a whole hearted effort to chase down the monumental target.
Kishan and Pollard stepped on the acceleration button by smashing speedster Navdeep Saini for 10 runs in the 16th over.He watched the explosive Pollard decimating leg spinner Adam Zampa for 27 runs in the 17th over and help MI get back into the game.
The Indo-Windies pair were severe on leggie Yuzvendra Chahal in the 18th over as Pollard hit him out of the park for 2 maximums and Ishan replicated his with one hit over the fence, collecting 22 runs off the over.
With 31 needed off 12 deliveries, Kishan smashed a six off an otherwise economical penultimate over by Navdeep Saini to bring down the equation to 19 runs required off the last over.In the final over of the game, Ishan tonked Lankan speedster Isuru Udana for two more sixes to take his side to the brink of an epic win before getting dismissed for 99.
Pollard smacked the last ball of the over for a boundary to force the game to yet another Super-Over in the season.
Mumbai Indians could not have asked for a better performance from Kishan who had replaced injured Sourabh Tiwari in the playing eleven against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Ishan Kishan fell one short of a spectacular ton but his 99-run knock off just 58 deliveries laced with 9 sixes and 2 boundaries meant he had also entered a unique club of batsman to have scored 99 runs in an innings in IPL history.
99-Run Knocks In IPL
Suresh Raina* vs SRH in 2013
Virat Kohli vs DD in 2013
Prithvi Shaw vs KKR in 2019
Chris Gayle vs RCB in 2019
Ishan Kishan vs RCB - 2020