IPL 2021: Kolkata humble Mumbai, leap into top 4

TWO-TIME champions Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) dream resumption in the split 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) continued on Thursday (23) when they crushed five-time and defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) by seven wickets at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Eoin Morgan won the toss and asked MI to bat first but despite a solid start from skipper Rohit Sharma (33 off 30 balls) who came back into the side after missing the previous match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and wicket-keeper-batsman Quinton de Kock (55 off 42), lost the momentum in the middle with the top three (including Surya Kumar Yadav who fell for five off 10) returning in a quick time. Some brisk batting from Kieron Pollard (21 off 15) and Krunal Pandya (9 off 12) towards the later stage propelled MI to 156 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs.

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Kolkata brought their quick bowlers later in the innings and the plan clicked. Lockie Ferguson took two for 27 and Prasidh Krishna took two for 43. Spinner Sunil Narine got one wicket.

Chasing the target, Kolkata also went off to a good start before Shubhman Gill (13 off nine) fell as the first wicket. But an 88-run partnership in less than nine overs between Venkatesh Iyer (53 off 30) and Rahul Tripathi (74 not out off 42) took the Knights closer to their target. Tripathi added 19 runs with Morgan (seven off eight) and after the latter was dismissed, took the responsibility to see his side home with almost five overs to spare. Triptahi was adjudged the man of the match. For Mumbai, ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah picked all the three wickets.

It was KKR’s seventh win against MI who have beaten them 22 times.

In their first meeting in Chennai in April, Mumbai had set up a similar target for Kolkata and the latter, despite being placed at an advantageous position, lost the plot to lose by only 10 runs.

With two back-to-back wins (they hammered Royal Challengers Bangalore by nine wickets in their first game), the KKR catapulted them into the top four with eight points from nine games. Mumbai also have eight from nine but because of their two consecutive losses, they have now slipped to the sixth position owing to an inferior net run-rate.

On Friday (24), Royal Challenges Bangalore will meet CSK in Sharjah.