Defending champions Mumbai Indians rode on a comprehensive team performance to register their first win of this season’s Indian Premier League (IPL) as they defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 49 runs on Wednesday.
Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma was the star of the night with the bat as the smashed 80 off 54 deliveries to help his team put 195 on the board before the bowlers produced a disciplined show to restrict the KKR batting unit at 146/9.
Other than Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary contributed with quickfire 47 and 21 respectively in the middle-order. Yadav and Sharma had stitched a 90-run stand.
Chasing the massive 196-run target, Kolkata lost both their openers — Shubhman Gill (7) and Sunil Narine (9) — within the first five overs with their scorecard reading 25/2. While Trent Boult dismissed Gill, James Pattinson accounted for Narine.
KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik (30) and NitishRana (24), however, scored at a brisk pace, taking their side past the 50-run mark in the next 2.4 overs.
The partnership didn’t last too long as Rahul Chahar trapped Karthik before the wicket in the 11th over. Just when KKR managed to add another six runs, Keiron Pollard sent Rana back to reduce the opponents to 77/4 in 11.4 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah, who conceded 43 runs in four overs against Chennai Super Kings, made a magnificent comeback and jolted KKR twice in an over. Both Eoin Morgan (16) Andre Russell (11) became the victim of Bumrah in the 16th over.
Boult struck again in the 17th over, this time to send back Nikhil Naik (1) as KKR reeled at 103/7. Pat Cummins, who had a horrible time with the ball earlier in the innings, showed his potential with the bat as he played a cameo of 12-ball 33 before being consumed by James Pattinson in the 19th over. Cummins innings somehow reduced the deficit but wasn’t enough to help KKR cross the line as the two-time IPL champions fell 49 short of the target.
For Mumbai, Bumrah, Pattinson, Rahul Chahar and Boult picked couple of wickets each.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit led from the front with his explosive 54-ball 80 as his side posted a challenging 195/5 in the allotted overs. Rohit’s blitzkrieg was decorated with three boundaries and six hits into the stands.
Apart from Rohit’s innings, it was some lacklustre bowling and fielding from Kolkata Knight Riders that helped Mumbai reach a good total.
After putting MI into bat, KKR managed to contain MI opener Quinton de Kock (1) early. However, their joy didn’t last long as the next batsman Suryakumar Yadav, along with Rohit, repaired the early damage quite comfortably.
The duo forged a 90-run partnership for the second wicket, before Yadav while trying to steal a single fell short of the crease.
Saurabh Tiwary then provided ideal support to his skipper as the pair then stitched together a 49-run partnership before the former became a victim of Sunil Narine in the 16th over with Mumbai’s scorecard reading 147/3.
Rohit, however, continued the destruction with his bat and received good support from Hardik Pandya (18). The MI skipper and Hardik while trying to accelerate the run rate fell to Shivam Mavi and Andre Russell towards the business end of the innings before Keiron Pollard scored 13 runs from the final over to help their side reach a good total.
While Mavi picked two wickets, Russell and Narine bagged one each. Pat Cummins, the most expensive purchase at the player auction, had a disappointing outing as he leaked 49 runs from his three overs and remained wicketless.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indian 195/5 (Rohit Sharma 80, Suryakumar Yadav 47; Shivam Mavi 2/32) beat KKR 146/9 (Pat Cummins 33, Dinesh Karthik 30; James Pattinson 2/25) by 49 runs.
With IANS inputs