In a battle of attrition, the Kolkata Knight Riders bowling unit defeated the five-time champion Mumbai Indians by 24 runs at Wankhede Stadium on Friday in an IPL match. Venkatesh Iyer scored 70 runs, but if the KKR batsmen failed to follow their strategy in the first half and were bowled out for just 169, then the Mumbai Indians’ struggling hitters had no chance on a difficult wicket that demanded both patience and application. Hardik Pandya’s nightmare has come to an end as they are all out of the competition after being dismissed for 145 in 18.5 overs.
A memorable win for @KKRiders 🥳
They wrap up a solid performance to get past the #MI challenge đź’ś đź’Ş
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/iWTqcAsT0O#TATAIPL | #MIvKKR pic.twitter.com/YT6MGSdPkj
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 3, 2024
It was KKR’s first away win in Mumbai after 12 years and last time they won at the venue, their principal owner Shah Rukh Khan was embroiled in an argument with security staff which led to his ban from the venue for next three years. That year KKR won the trophy and this win took them to 14 points and kept them in contention for a finish among the first two teams.
Mumbai Indians were shot out for 145 in 18.5 overs while chasing 170, despite a masterful fifty from Suryakumar Yadav. Mitchell Starc (3.5-0-33-4) once again proved to be ineffective at the bat, as KKR won their seventh game in ten.
Up until he successfully blocked a full toss from Andre Russell on 2/30, Suryakumar seemed to be differentiating the two teams with a superb knock that pulled MI back from the edge.
Suryakumar’s 56 off 35 balls in an innings that preserved MI’s hopes included six fours and two sixes.
Suryakumar also brought the equation down enough for his side to get over the line after they were reduced to 71/6 at one stage.
But none of the MI batters showed their hand up as KKR ran away with the game with a flurry of wickets towards the end.
Also impressive were KKR’s spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, producing identical figures of 4-0-22-2 to keep the MI batters under the pump.
Having smacked a six and a four off Starc, Ishan Kishan (13) missed connecting a wild heave which resulted in the Aussie knocking down his leg stump.
Naman Dhir (11) hit two fours to start with but he also went for a heave and missed with Chakravarthy striking on his first delivery.
Playing as an impact sub, Rohit Sharma (11) lofted Starc for a spectacular six over extra cover but failed to connect well when he went to pull a short one from Narine.
Manish Pandey covered a fair distance moving backwards to reduce MI to 46 for three in the powerplay.
Chakravarthy ensured a short stay in the middle for MI’s most successful batter this year when he had Tilak Varma (4) caught by Narine at short third man.
The flow of wickets pushed MI on the backfoot and the pressure resulted in further success when Nehal Wadhera (6) chopped one onto his wickets off Narine.
MI skipper and India vice-captain for the upcoming T20 World Cup Hardik Pandya walked out to loud boos once again at home turf Wankhede Stadium only to be outdone by the awkward pace off the surface.
Pandya’s innings lasted only two balls as he too, like a few others, was early into his shot which produced a top edge to be grabbed easily.
Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders’ aggressive approach came a cropper on a sluggish surface as they were bowled out for a paltry 169 despite Venkatesh Iyer’s half-century.
Venkatesh scored 70 off 52 balls but his selfish attitude of trying to preserve his own wicket by sacrificing enforcer Russell certainly cost the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned side 20 runs which didn’t turn out to be costly in the end.
Veteran Pandey scored 42 off 31 balls in a stand of 83 for the sixth wicket with Venkatesh.
Just like the top-order was blown away before the total reached 60, the last five fell for just 29 runs as Jasprit Bumrah (3/18 in 3.5 overs) was too hot to handle with his toe-crushers at the death.
The KKR batsmen were guilty of throwing caution to the wind and rushing into shots on a two-paced wicket where deliveries were sometimes slower than anticipated to reach the bat.
Consequently, with nothing important on the board, half their side was back in the hut during the powerplay.
Rinku Singh (9) also wasted a chance to bat well after the explosive top order cut a sorry figure, forcing KKR to look to the seasoned impact sub Pandey for help.
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