Bumrah’s sensational bowling 5/10, unable to cash in advantage
MI Captain Rohit Sharma falls to wily Southee in over 2nd over for 2
Kolkata defeat Mumbai by 52 runs and keep IPL playoff chances alive
Mumbai, May 9 Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Mumbai Indians by 52 runs to keep their playoff chances alive as Jasprit Bumrah’s heroics went in vain in the 56th IPL match at DY Patil Stadium here on Monday. This win meant a lot, but not by much. They are 10 points ahead of Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad. They still have two games left with a maximum of 14 points to reach. They are fancying their chances based on other match results and better run rate. Pat Cummins picked up 3 wickets in the 15th over to put KKR on top and from thereon MI never looked to they would come back in the match. With this defeat, they have slipped to their 9th loss in 11 games. The 166 runs target by KKR looked chaseable at the innings break, but MI’s out-of-the-wits batting lineup, in the absence of Surya Kumar Yadav, failed to maintain the tempo. Once skipper Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma departed, MI were forced to bring the innings back on track, which meant the onus was on Ishan Kishan and Ramandeep Singh. Both failed to accelerate due to exceptional bowling by KKR on a lightly two-paced wicket, which Cummins and Andre Russel used to perfection.
Though Bumrah’s 5/10 helped Mumbai Indians restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to 165 for 9 in the 56th IPL match. Yet Mumbai could not encash his sensational bowling. Bumrah spun the story of the night by picking two wickets in the second over and three wickets in his next over, ending with an envious figure of 5/10 in stipulated four overs. It all started with Andre Russel’s wicket and then ripped through KKR’s lower middle-order with a flurry of short-pitched balls. The premier MI bowler poured water on the plans of KKR to reach 200 runs mark, but finished a par below after their batsmen were mesmerized by his magnificent second spell. Earlier KKR blooded Venkatesh Iyer at the top which paid rich dividends as he rebranded his heroics last year. After the departure of openers Venkatesh and Ajinkya Rahane, Nitish Rana was in a belligerent mood and threatened to snuff the game out of MI’s reach. But smart captaincy from Rohit Sharma to bring Bumrah back for his second spell proved to be a masterstroke. Put to bat after losing the toss, KKR made a steady start by putting on the highest opening stand of the season worth 50. Venkatesh (43 off 24 balls) was holed out for a 24-ball 43. Left arm chainman Kumar Kartikeyan broke the 60-run stand. Kartikeyan tossed it up outside off, the ball spun away and Iyer top-edged as Daniel Sams at cover-point completed a safe catch. Kartikeya had his second wicket as Ajinkya Rahane (25 off 24 balls) was knocked over, leaving KKR at 87/2 in the 11th over. The KKR batsman was beaten on the reverse sweep and bowled around his legs, putting an end to a decent knock but just when he had to accelerate, he fell. Shreyas Iyer fell for just 6. It was a superb delivery from Murugan Ashwin as he forced the KKR skipper forward to defend, but took a thin nick and Kishan made no mistake behind the stumps. Bumrah, who was brought into the attack to forge a breakthrough, picked a brace in his second over and three more in his third. First, he picked a big wicket of Andre Russel (9 off 5 balls with 1 six). The hard-hitting West Indian tried to take on the straight boundary, but the ball skied off the bat, and Pollard at long-on took an easy catch. In the same over, Bumrah shouted for caught behind, but the on-field umpire wasn’t interested that prompted MI to review the decision and were rewarded. The MI bowler got Nitesh Rana for 43 off 26 balls. A great catch from Sams in the deep had Sheldon Jackson (5 off 7 balls) walking back to the pavilion. Bumrah had his third wicket of the night in his next over. He then got his next two wickets of Pat Cummins (0) and Sunil Narine (0) in the same over, ending with figures of 5 for 9 in three overs. KKR finished with 165, thanks to a cameo from Rinku Singh worth 23. (UNI)
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