"Poore 18cr wasool" - Fans erupt as Sam Curran smashes 55 off 29 balls vs MI in IPL 2023

Punjab Kings (PBKS)'s stand-in captain Sam Curran led from the front with a stunning half-century against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday, April 22.

The left-handed batter starred with the bat, scoring 55 runs off 29 balls at a staggering strike rate of 189.66, including four sixes and five boundaries.

The 24-year-old also shared a crucial 92-run partnership with Harpreet Singh Bhatia to recover from 83/4 and lead Punjab's fightback to post a match-winning total.

Fans on Twitter hailed Curran for his exploits with the bat in the absence of regular captain Shikhar Dhawan, who is out with an injury. One user tweeted:

Sam Curran has, so far, scored 142 runs in seven games at a strike rate of 137.86 in IPL 2023. It was his second half-century against five-time IPL champions Mumbai in the T20 tournament, having hit his last fifty for CSK in IPL 2020.

Sam Curran-led Punjab Kings set a 215-run target for MI

A clinical batting performance from the Punjab Kings helped them post 214/8 in their allotted 20 overs after being asked to bat first by Mumbai Indians.

Besides Curran, Jitesh Sharma played a cameo of 25 runs off just seven balls at a strike rate of 357.14 to take PBKS past 200. Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Atharva Taide, and Prabhsimran Singh also chipped in with 41, 29, and 26, respectively.

Piyush Chawla emerged as the pick of the bowlers for MI, returning with figures of 2/15, while Cameron Green also bagged two wickets. Arjun Tendulkar, Jason Behrendorff, and Jofra Archer settled for one wicket apiece.

MI (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (w), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Tilak Varma, Arjun Tendulkar, Hrithik Shokeen, Jofra Archer, Piyush Chawla, and Jason Behrendorff.

PBKS (Playing XI): Atharva Taide, Prabhsimran Singh, Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran (c), Jitesh Sharma (w), Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, and Arshdeep Singh.

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James has been covering cricket news for Sportskeeda for 3+ years with over 1 crore readership. He has been following the game since 2002 and has not looked back since. A breaking news specialist, he has a previous 3-year work experience at Times of India, English Jagran, NDTV and others, covering all news categories, including sports.

James holds a Master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism and a diploma in Sub-editing and Design which shaped his sports reporting career. During the course of his education, he learned about the 5W1H format, fact-checking, ethics, SEO, pyramid structure, etc, which enable him to produce compelling content for his readers. His exploits in reporting have led him to exclusively cover numerous ICC events and IPL.

James comes from Jharkhand and is highly inspired by legendary India captain MS Dhoni. He is a staunch supporter of the ICT and is loyal towards the CSK. When not immersed in his favorite sport, James likes watching Bollywood songs.

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