The game of cricket is a sideways game, where the pendulum fluctuates during the course of the match. Mumbai Indians were facing the music initially and were almost out of the reckoning in IPL 11, but made a remarkable recovery. On the other hand Kings XI Punjab was sailing smoothly but suddenly faced a loss of form and lost 5 out of 6 matches and started slowly losing grip. The game of uncertainity in T-20 cricket was witnessed at the Wankhede stadium. Punjab chasing a target of 187 were 167 for 3 and needed 20 of last 10 balls. Then disaster struck with Rahul falling prey to the loft shot and Yuvraj Singh could not show his world cup form of 2011 and fell in the trap laid for him. In the last over 17 runs were required and Punjab batsmen failed to utilise the best opportunity to come good and go further in the tournament. On the other hand, Mumbai Indians with limited chance of qualifying used the home condition to advantage and recovered from 71 for 4 through Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard (50) to make a match of it in the end. Bumrah did his best as a bowler in the end overs and the valiant knock of Rahul (94) was in vain as he perished in the penultimate over of the match and handing over the match to Mumbai Indians on a platter. Mumbai Indians realised their chances to qualify for the play-off stage and the current champion.
— C.K. Subramaniam, Sanpada