Chennai: After a loss in their first game, defending champions Mumbai Indians opened their account in the ongoing Indian Premier League by beating Kolkata Knight Rider by 10 runs on Tuesday (April 13). Rahul Chahar with his 4/27 spearheaded a superb bowling performance resulting in a batting collapse for Eoin Morgan’s side who were held at 142/7 chasing a target of 153.
AN INCREDIBLE BOWLING PERFORMANCE! 👏
We register a 10-run victory to seal our first win of the season! 💙#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians #MI #KKRvMI #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/QJqi9tsQ4M
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 13, 2021
Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill started the proceedings for Kolkata in fine fashion getting 72 for the opening stand. The latter however got dismissed miscuing one in the air finding Kieron Pollard for 33. Rana got to another half-century but fell to Chahar shortly after that for a well 57.
Kolkata lost wickets in a bunch through the mid-phase with Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan and Shakib Al Hassan all departing in quick succession thanks to Chahar’s(4/27) brilliant spell. The rest of the Mumbai bowlers showcased great resilience dragging the game to the wire despite not having many runs on the board.
Kolkata had high hopes from Andre Russell but he failed again. With 14 runs needed off the final over, Trent Boult held his nerve to get things over the line for Mumbai taking a couple of wickets in the process.
Earlier, Mumbai after being asked to bat started off well despite the early loss of Quinton de Kock. Suryakumar Yadav, going through his purple patch, again started an onslaught from the word go. He brought up his fifty with a huge six off Pat Cummins but got dismissed shortly for a 36 ball 56.
Ishan Kishan was also a guest of a mere three deliveries. Runs pretty much dried up drastically after that due to some tight bowling by Kolkata, especially from Shakib and Cummins in those middle overs and when skipper Rohit Sharma fell to the Aussie pacer for 43, Knight Riders tightened their grip further.
Hardik Pandya disappointed a lot with his 17-ball 15. Wickets kept tumbling as Mumbai got all out for 152 with Andre Russell wrapping up the batting order with 5/15 in two overs.
