‘Mayank Agarwal in some fun mode’ – Twitter praises Mayank Agarwal for his first half-century of the Indian T20 League 2022

Punjab and Mumbai are locking horns in the 23rd game of the Indian T20 League 2022 in Pune. After winning the toss, the five-time winners chose to bowl first. However, the decision proved costly for the team as their bowlers couldn’t pick a wicket in the first nine overs. Punjab’s openers Shikhar Dhawan, and skipper Mayank Agarwal provided a great launching pad for the other batters.

Agarwal took the attack to the opposition bowlers while Dhawan played steadily. The duo stitched a partnership of 97 runs in 9.3 overs before the former got out to Murugan Ashwin. Before being dismissed by Ashwin, the right-hander scored 52 off 32 balls including six fours and two sixes. During his innings, he targeted Ashwin in the latter’s first over of the game. He hit two fours and a six in the fifth over of the innings to take the score from 36/0 to 53/0.

After his wicket, Jonny Bairstow came out to bat and stitched a partnership of 30 with Shikhar Dhawan. The former was struggling at the crease with 12 off 13 balls before being clean bowled by left-arm medium pacer Jaydev Unadkat. Liam Livingstone, who hit two back-to-back fifties in the last two games, couldn’t do much either as he was clean bowled by Jasprit Bumrah for two.

Shikhar Dhawan went on to score 70 off 50 balls including five fours and three sixes. He was caught by Kieron Pollard off Basil Thampi’s bowling with the scorecard reading 151/4 in 17 overs. Jitesh Sharma scored 30 off 15 balls with two sixes and as many fours. Shahrukh Khan then scored 15 off six balls. In the last over, Khan hit two sixes against Thampi to take the score to 197 before he was clean bowled by the pacer.

The team ended the innings on 198/5, setting a target of 199 for the Rohit Sharma-led side to win. The team in blue are yet to win a game in the ongoing season, having lost four out of as many games so far.

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