Almost miraculous

When Ashutosh arrived, Shashank had already been keeping the Kings' score moving with the occasional boundary. Shashank hit three sixes and two fours, scoring 41 runs in 25 balls from No. 6. It was only when Ashutosh joined him that runs began to flow from both ends.

Ashutosh hit a six over fine leg off Madhwal in the tenth over and then scored four and six off Romario Shepherd in the 11th. In the 12th over, he hit Hardik Pandya for a six. Even after Shashank was dismissed by Bumrah in the 13th over, he boldly swept the fast bowler for another six in the same over. Ashutosh and Harpreet Brar then scored 13 runs off Coetzee in the 15th over, contributing to a total of 65 runs in the last five overs.

It was the 16th over that turned the game in the Kings' favour. Madhwal missed his lengths and Ashutosh punished him with consecutive sixes. Harpreet hit another six, bringing the required runs down to 28 off four overs.

The run-rate of only seven allowed Ashutosh and Harpreet to comfortably see out Bumrah's final over, conceding only three runs. This left the Kings with a manageable 25 runs to win off 18 balls. However, Coetzee's ability to break partnerships proved decisive once again, as he had Ashutosh caught at deep midwicket at the start of the 18th over. Harpreet was then dismissed by Hardik in the 19th over. Rabada, who was batting at No. 11, hit a six off Hardik's last ball, leaving 13 runs to be scored off the remaining seven balls. A single was taken off the last ball of that over, and a wide was bowled off the first ball of the final over by Akash Madhwal, bringing the target down to 11 runs off six balls.

However, Rabada was run out while attempting a second run on the next ball, and Mumbai celebrated a great escape.