Short Scores: Mumbai Indians 152 all out (Suryakumar Yadav 56, Rohit Sharma 43, Andre Russell 5/15) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 142/7 (Nitish Rana 57, Shubman Gill 33, Rahul Chahar 4/27) of 10 runs
Mumbai Indians (MI) secured their first victory of the season after beating the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 5 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai yesterday.
Rahul Chahar registered his best bowling figures (4/27) in the IPL as MI defended the 152 total against KKR.
Going by a target of 153, KKR openers – Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill – took calculated risks to start their innings, with Rana making the majority of the hit.
The duo batted positively, targeting the speed of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, and hitting some well timed strokes, including a drive by Gill off Bumrah, and completing a 50 run stand shortly after the powerplay came ended.
The pair continued to bat on before Chahar provided a breakthrough for MI after Gill signed one into the hands of the outside player in the 9th over. KKR was set at 81/1 at the halfway stage and Chahar once again hit the MI, dismissing Rahul Tripathi in the 11th over.
While Rana brought up his second consecutive half-century of the season, Chahar grabbed his third wicket of the match, dismissing KKR captain Eoin Morgan in his third over. A well-placed Rana was the next man to go out as the young MI leg-spinner replaced the left-hander before de Kock displaced the bail to give MI and Chahar his fourth wicket.
MI continued to put pressure on KKR as Krunal Pandya got the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan, who was caught in the depths by Suryakumar Yadav in the 16th over. Krunal had the opportunity to add one more wicket to his name but was unable to capture a quick chance as Andre Russell had a life even before he opened his account.
The big West Indian rounder got another life in Krunal’s next season as Jasprit Bumrah could not hook a skier. To Krunal’s credit though, he conceded just three runs in the 18th over, putting pressure on KKR.
Bumrah, who bowled the last but one, then brought his wealth of experience in bowling the death blades into play and denied the duo of Russell and Karthik a chance to open their shoulders, giving away only 4 runs.
With 15 runs to defend, Boult was tasked with bowling the final against the likes of Russell and Karthik and delivered for the team, cleverly varying his speed as he scalped two wickets, including one Russell and helping MI to a stunning sealed 10 run victory.
Earlier, MI, who were first asked to bat, made one change to their playing XI as Quinton de Kock replaced Chris Lynn at the top. However, the left wing made an early exit after being nailed out in the deep off Varun Chakravarthy’s bowling in the second over.
Suryakumar Yadav, who replaced de Kock in the middle, got off to an aggressive start, creaming three boundaries in the third over off Harbhajan Singh. While KKR managed to keep Rohit Sharma calm, Surya continued to play his shots as MI finished their powerplay at 42/1.
The smacking 16-hander runs off the 8th over bowled by Prasidh Krishna, hitting the ruler for a couple of boundaries along with a fashionable flicked top and then bringing up his fifty in style with a mammoth six off Pat Cummins bowling.
KKR desperately needed to break the partnership and they struck twice in quick succession, courtesy of Shakib Al Hasan and Cummins. While Shakib, who was playing his 50th IPL match for KKR, dismissed Surya for 56, Cummins got Ishan Kishan’s wicket.
The duo Rohit and Hardik Pandya then added 27 runs in the next four overs before Cummins cast the MI spinner as the latter tried to cut one off the side.
KKR bowlers were magnificent at the time of death, not letting the big hitters – Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard – cause any damage as the MI wickets came in plenty.
Prasidh Krishna got Hardik out for 15 in the 17th over before Russell ran through MI’s batting line, scalding five wickets in his two overs.
In the 18th over, Russell picked up two wickets, dismissing Kieron Pollard and Marco Jansen and then bowling a three-wicket final over and completing his first five-wicket match at the IPL which helped KKR bowling MI at 152.