Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Mumbai Indians in an uncommon sub-200 thriller to increase their lead in the top four and earn their first points at the stadium since the 2012 campaign. On a new, sticky pitch, KKR endured a batting collapse before Venkatesh Iyer got them to 169. Suryakumar Yadav made a tremendous effort, but the spinners derailed the chas through the middle, and Mitchell Starc concluded with wickets.
Where was the victory in the game?
MI had a rough start, but Suryakumar carried them through to the very end, when they required 51 off 30 balls. After MI lost Suryakumar in the 16th over, they were unable to regain their composure. Despite losing half of their team during that time, KKR was still able to score some crucial runs, which provided their bowlers with a total to work with.
The disparity between death and overs
| Parameters | KKR | MI |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 41/5 | 26/4 |
| Run-rate | 8.48 | 6.78 |
| 4s/6s | 1/4 | 0/2 |
Knight Riders of Kolkata
The KKR top-order misinterpreted the Wankhede pitch as “fresh.”
Score for phase: 57/4 9.50, 4s/6s: 7/3, RR
The wickets of Phil Salt, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and Shreyas Iyer went quickly as Nuwan Thushara grabbed three in two overs. The ball held up off the pitch, a new one, forcing the hitters to mistime their drives and flicks in the air and straight to fielders. Salt’s expulsion required a wonderful catch from Tilak Varma in the outfield despite colliding with a teammate. After hitting a six over mid-wicket to greet Hardik Pandya in the fifth over, Sunil Narine’s leg stump was crushed by the following delivery.
Middle-overs: Manish Pandey and Venkatesh Iyer keep things afloat
Phase rating: 71/1 7.89, 4s/6s: 4/2 in RR
On the opening ball of the middle overs, Rinku Singh chipped one right back to Piyush Chawla, forcing KKR to insert Manish Pandey as the impact replacement. Pandey and Venkatesh Iyer collaborated to devise a meticulous plan for recuperation. Piyush bowled three terrific, tight overs for just 15 runs, but Naman Dhir’s two overs gave the KKR pair their runs before they went after Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee for 15 and 12 respectively. In his fifth innings against KKR, Venkatesh scored more than fifty runs for the fourth time, and Manish made the most of his first opportunity to play for the team after rejoining this year.
Death-overs: Russell runs out, and Bumrah takes over
Phase rating: 41 out of 5. [RR: 8.48, 1/4 for 4s/6s]
Hardik came back to dismiss Pandey for a solid 42 off 31 in the 16th over, demonstrating the effectiveness of keeping pace off the ball. In order to give KKR a late boost, Andre Russell came out at the ideal moment and even opened with a massive six. However, the West Indian was run out in the same over that yielded three sixes for the visitors because to a faulty yes-no call from Venkatesh. Following the 20-run over, Bumrah entered the field to tidy up the tail after trapping Ramandeep Singh in the deep and then yorking Mitchell Starc. Before Bumrah slammed back his stumps in the last over, Venkatesh increased KKR’s total by going after Thusara in the 19th over. Venkatesh scored 70 runs in 52 balls to finish.
Indians from Mumbai
PowerPlay: Early stuttering MI
Phase rating: 46/3 7.67, 4s/6s: 4/2 in RR
The early proceedings began with Mitchell Starc cleaning up Ishan Kishan, who had been hit for a six on the previous delivery and had since died. Varun Chakravarthy, the spinner in the fourth over, cleaned up Naman Dhir on the first ball as he attempted to press forward. The next man out was MI’s impact substitute Rohit Sharma, who fell to the spinner for the eighth time in the competition after mistiming his pull shot against Sunil Narine in the sixth over.
Middle-overs: With a 20-run over, Suryakumar Yadav brings the chase back.
Phase rating: 73/3 [RR: 8.12, 7/2 for 4s/6s]
With just six runs conceded in his opening overs, Varun CV carried on with his excellent bowling performance. And just as KKR’s asking rate started to creep up, Narine was similarly miserly on the other end. Suryakumar Yadav got Tilak Varma chasing following a wide delivery and was out of the game just as he was about to break the chains by sweeping Narine for a four in the ninth over. MI was on the verge of defeat at six down when Narine eliminated Nehal Wadhera and Hardik was dropped by Russell, but Suryakumar persisted. Suryakumar reignited the chase after KKR gave up just 44 runs in 8 overs of spin, blasting an inconsistent Vaibhav for 20 runs, including two sixes.
Russell and Starc turn it around in the death-overs.
Phase rating: 26/4 [RR: 6.78, 0/2 for 4s/6s]
Russell ended Suryakumar’s battle in the sixteenth over, stealing the initiative from MI and quieting a boisterous partisan crowd at the Wankhede. With just three runs lost in the 17th over, Starc took advantage of the gripping surface, forcing MI to chase 43 off the final 18 balls. After hitting a massive six in an over that saw Russell score eleven runs, Tim David added another late twist by tonking a ball off the first ball bowled by Starc in the 19th over. But when David smashed a rank full-toss straight to Shreyas at long-off, he fell on the next ball. The next ball saw Piyush hit a full toss to a fielder, putting MI eight down. With a brilliant four-wicket haul, Starc completed the chase with a blistering yorker.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 145 in 18.5 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 56; Mitchell Starc 4-33, Varun CV 2-22, Sunil Narine 2-22, Andre Russell 2-30) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 169 in 19.5 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 70, Manish Pandey 42; Jasprit Bumrah 3-18, Nuwan Thushara 3-42) by 24 runs.
What comes next?
With just one day to spare before facing LSG, another team in the top four, on Sunday, May 5, KKR will travel to Lucknow. MI will have another day off before hosting Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday, May 6.
