Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 10 runs in the IPL; Eoin Morgan's Knight Riders scored only 20 runs in the last five overs to relinquish a strong position in the chase; watch Sunrisers vs RCB from 2.50pm, Wednesday, Sky Sports Cricket
Wednesday 14 April 2021 08:26, UK
Defending champions Mumbai Indians fought back to claim their first win of IPL 2021 after Kolkata Knight Riders threw away a winning position late in the chase.
Needing 153 to win, KKR appeared to be cruising to victory after an opening stand of 72 between Nitish Rana (57 from 43 balls) and Shubman Gill (33 from 24), and even when Rana fell to the last ball of the 15th over, leaving them 122-4, they remained firm favourites needing only 31 from 30 balls.
Instead, the innings ground to a halt, legspinner Rahul Chahar (4-27) had accounted for the top four and Trent Boult (2-27) finished the job for Mumbai with two wickets in the final over as Kolkata ended 10 runs short on 142-7.
Suryakumar Yadav's 56 from 36 balls for Mumbai proved crucial while all-rounder Andre Russell's T20-best figures of 5-15 from just two overs came in vain as KKR lost for the 10th time in the last 11 meetings between the two sides.
Mumbai were boosted by the return of Quinton de Kock, who was out of quarantine following his arrival from South Africa, but the left-hander fell early, holing out off Varun Chakravathi, as KKR went with spin from both ends to start the match.
After the initial success though, Suryakumar came in and proceeded to hit three boundaries in an over from Harbhajan Singh. That was just the start though as he flipped a leg-stump half-volley from Prasidh Krishna over midwicket for six and followed it up with a pair of fours.
The best was yet to come though as Suryakumar brought up his half-century with a remarkable shot off Pat Cummins, whipped on the angle and travelling 99 metres to land on the roof of the stadium.
Shakib Al Hasan dismissed the Mumbai No 3 in the next over and Cummins removed Ishan Kishan four balls later before Rohit Sharma (43 from 32), after an unusually slow start, briefly kicked into gear, only to drag a Cummins slower-ball onto his stumps just as he was getting going.
Prasidh had Hardik Pandya caught at mid-off before Morgan decided to hand Russell the ball for the first time in the 18th over.
It proved an inspired call as the West Indian dismissed international team-mate Kieron Pollard and Marco Jansen in his first over and added a further three, including Krunal Pandya, in his next as Mumbai were bowled out for 152 from the last ball of the innings.
Kolkata seemed to be making light work of the chase while Rana and Gill were together, the pair knocking off just shy of half the required runs before the latter was caught at long off in the ninth over, the ball after hitting Chahar for six.
A superb big-turning delivery from Chahar did for Rahul Tripathi in the 11th over and Morgan picked out the fielder at deep square leg in the 13th as the leggie kept chipping away for Mumbai.
It was only when Rana, having reached his second half-century of the campaign, came down the pitch and was stumped, handing Chahar his fourth wicket, that the KKR innings really unravelled.
A fraction over a run-a-ball was all that was required but two balls later, Shakib departed trying to launch Krunal over the legside.
With two experienced campaigners in Russell and Dinesh Karthik at the crease, Mumbai remained up against it and when Krunal dropped Russell later in the over, the reaction suggested they felt it would prove costly.
Instead, neither Russell nor Karthik was able to find any sort of timing, the former was dropped again in Krunal's next over by Jasprit Bumrah before the fast bowler made amends by keeping the KKR pair to just four singles from the 19th over.
That left Boult with 15 to defend in the final over and after two singles from the first two balls, the Kiwi left-armer drew a leading edge from Russell and took the return catch before castling Cummins next ball to leave Kolkata needing extras.
None were forthcoming though and while Mumbai celebrated, Kolkata were left to reflect on how they had managed to throw away such a dominant position.
Watch game six of IPL 2021, between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Bangalore Challengers, from 2.50pm on Wednesday on Sky Sports Cricket.
