Rohit Sharma led from the front as Mumbai Indians (MI) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 49 runs and secured their first win of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
After KKR won the toss and elected to field in their first game of the season, Shivam Mavi struck early, to dismiss Quinton de Kock in the second over.
But MI skipper Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav counterattacked and cashed in on every scoring opportunity. While Suryakumar hit four fours in the third over of the innings, Sharma went after Pat Cummins in the fifth over, hitting him for two sixes.
Sharma and Suryakumar completed the 50-run partnership and team’s 50 in the final over of the powerplay. Sharma then hit a four and a six, taking on Andre Russell in his first over.
Suryakumar then welcomed Kuldeep Yadav into the attack, with a six in his first over as MI moved past the 80-run mark at the end of the eighth over.
MI were in a touching distance to complete a 100, but before that they lost Suryakumar for 47 after the right-hander was run-out while completing two runs. Sharma then brought up his 37th IPL 50 in the IPL before MI moved past the 100-run mark in the 12th over.
In the 14th over – Kuldeep’s last of the night – Sharma hit two mighty sixes to complete his 200 sixes in the IPL. Rohit and Saurabh Tiwary, meanwhile, put up a 49-run stand, with the left-hander scoring 21 in 13 balls before getting out off Sunil Narine’s bowling.
MI brought up their 150 in the 17th over before Hardik Pandya opened his shoulders, hitting Cummins for two fours and a six.
Sharma was dismissed in the 18th over after scoring 80 off 54 balls, hitting three fours and six sixes, as Mavi picked up his second wicket of the match. KKR got a lucky breakthrough in the 19th over as Hardik got out hit-wicket off Russell’s bowling. MI scored 13 runs in the final over to take their run-tally to 195/5.
Needing 196 runs to win, KKR lost their first wicket in the third over of the chase as Trent Boult dismissed Shubman Gill. While KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik hit a couple of crisp fours, MI got their second wicket as de Kock held onto a fine flying catch off James Pattinson’s bowling to get Narine out in the fifth over.Nitish Rana replaced Narine in the middle and hardly wasted any time to make his intentions clear, hitting his third ball for a six over long-off as KKR ended the powerplay at 33/2.
KKR then scored 13 off the eighth over as Karthik and Rana hit a four each to push their side past 50. KKR lost their third wicket in the 11th over as Rahul Chahar trapped Karthik before the wickets for 30.
In the next over, Hardik displayed a piece of fielding brilliance. After Rana went aerial off Pollard’s bowling, Hardik, manning the sweeper cover area, ran towards his left held on to a fine catch, kept his composure and balance to not touch the rope and gave MI their fourth wicket.
Morgan was then joined by Russell as KKR, who reached the three-figure mark in the 15th over, were in need to go big to win the game.
But Bumrah dismissed both the batsmen in the 16th over. First, he disturbed the timber to end Russell’s stay in the middle, and then, had Morgan caught behind the wickets for 16. Boult then picked up his second wicket as Nikhil Naik got out for 1.
Cummins, then, put up some show with the bat, scoring 33 off 12 balls, hitting Bumrah for three sixes in the 18th over. But he was dismissed in the penultimate over by James Pattinson. Chahar, on the final ball of the match, had Mavi stumped as MI sealed a win.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 195/5 (Rohit Sharma 80, Suryakumar Yadav 47; Shivam Mavi 2/32) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 146/9 (Dinesh Karthik 30, Nitish Rana 24; James Pattinson 2/25) by 49 runs (IPL website)
