Leg-spinner Karn Sharma claimed four wickets to help Mumbai Indians restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to a small total of 107 runs. Motivated by his dreamlike spell, Hardik Pandya struck unbeaten 45 runs to post a six-wicket victory over KKR to enter the IPL 2017 final on Friday.
Winning captain Rohit Sharma heaped praise on Karn, who put early pressure on Koltata at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Advertisement
“Karn Sharma bowled really well and set the game up for us,” Rohit said in the post-match ceremony, where Karn was given the Man Of The Match award.
Sunil Narine (10), Gautam Gambhir (12), Ishank Jaggi (28) and Colin de Grandhomme (0) were the victims of the 23-year-old spinner.
Royal Challengers Bangalore leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal acknowledged Karn for displaying the ‘leggie power’ in Bangalore.
“Well bowled Karan Sharma (bhaiya) top stuff specially in Bangalore #leggiepower #MIvKKR #IPL2017 @IPL,” Chahal tweeted.
Former Australia captain also hailed the young leggie, saying: “Brilliant bowling Karn Sharma. Very good selection from @mipaltan.”