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Punjab Kings (PBKS) notched up a mammoth total of 214/4 in the first innings of the 46th IPL 2023 match against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday, May 3, at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.
MI captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field first in the contest. Arshad Khan dismissed Prabhsimran Singh (9) early in the second over to give the visitors a good start.
Shikhar Dhawan (30) showed aggressive intent in the powerplay to inject momentum into the innings. However, Piyush Chawla outfoxed him in the 7th over to give MI their second breakthrough. He also cleaned up Matthew Short with a beautiful googly in the 12th over.
Jitesh Sharma (49*) joined hands with Liam Livingstone (82*) when PBKS were 95/3 in 11.2 overs. The duo changed the whole complexion of the innings from there as they demolished the MI bowling attack with their ultra-aggressive 119-run partnership, which came in only 53 balls.
MI pace spearhead Jofra Archer bore the brunt of their assault as he conceded 56 runs across his four-over spell. Veteran spinner Chawla was the lone standout bowler for MI as he picked up two wickets while giving away only 29 runs in the high-scoring first innings.
Reflecting on the first innings during the mid-innings break, Livingstone said:
"It felt like a good pitch. Spin is quite a good on the surface and it is difficult to start against them. We just wanted to wait for the pacers to come back. We will have to bowl well, the pitch is a good one. Thankfully he (Archer) didn't bowl too many (quick ones)."
He added:
"I had lunch with him in the day. He knows what I don't like. It was one of the pitches where you felt like you could get a hold of the seam, but difficult against the spinners. So I'm happy I picked my bowlers well."
Fans react as Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma power PBKS to 214/3 vs MI
Fans on social media enjoyed the high-scoring first innings of the IPL 2023 match between MI and PBKS. They expressed their reactions in the form of some hilarious memes.
Here is a collection of the best ones:
