Mumbai Indians thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash here on Sunday. Mumbai dominated the visitors throughout the match and with this defeat, KKR’s campaign for this season of IPL came to an end.
Chasing a modest total of 134 runs, Mumbai got off to a decent start as the openers, Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma, stitched a 46-run partnership. De Kock in the fourth over came vehemently as he hammered two sixes and a boundary to Andre Russell.
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However, in the seventh over bowled by Prasidh Krishna De Kock tried to smack the ball but got a top edge and Dinesh Karthik caught a brilliant diving catch which ended De Kock’s 30-run inning.
Suryakumar Yadav then joined the skipper and both played safely and did not play risky shots. However, they kept on adding scores and both Sharma (55*) and Yadav (46*) clinched an easy nine-wicket victory over the visitors.
Earlier, KKR were sent to bat first as Mumbai won the toss and opted to bowl first. KKR had a decent start as both the openers, Shubman Gill and Chris Lynn, stitched a 49-run partnership.
However, it was Lynn who kept the scoreboard running as Gill was finding it difficult to find a gap. Mumbai’s Hardik Pandya provided his team with their first breakthrough in the name of Gill, who scored 9 runs off 16 balls.
Hardik Pandya then sent the other opener, Lynn (41), back to the pavilion in his next over.
Robin Uthappa and skipper Dinesh Karthik then came out to bat. However, their partnership did not last long as Karthik (3) became a victim of Lasith Malinga.
KKR’s most destructive batsman Andre Russell then came out to bat but he failed to put up a good show as he was sent back to the pavilion on a duck.
Nitish Rana then accompanied Uthappa and both played opted to play fearlessly and struck some astounding shots. Both formed a 47-run partnership before Malinga got hold of Rana (26).
Jasprit Bumrah continuing his great form with the ball bowled the last over of the inning and took two wickets which included the wicket of the set batsman Uthappa (40) while conceding just three runs, which helped the hosts to restrict KKR to just 133 runs after a loss of seven wickets.
Brief score:
Mumbai Indians (Rohit Sharma 55*, Suryakumar Yadav 46*, Prasidh Krishna 1-22) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (Chris Lynn 40, Robin Uthappa 40, Lasith Malinga 3-35) by nine wickets.
(With ANI inputs)