Report: M41 - KKR vs MI
Match Recap
The Mumbai Indians kept their stranglehold on the Kolkata Knight Riders after defeating them by 102 runs at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday night. In Match 41 of VIVO IPL 2018, MI, who were put in to bat, posted 210-6 – the highest total in IPL matches at the venue – and then dismissed the hosts for 108. As a result of the win, MI climbed into the top half of the standings, while KKR slipped out of the top four and their net run rate took a pounding.
MI’s innings had several contributions, but the most impactful performance was from their youngest - Ishan Kishan, who smashed 62 from 21 balls. Opener Suryakumar Yadav made 36, as did captain Rohit Sharma, while Hardik Pandya (19 from 13 balls) and Ben Cutting (24) gave the innings the finishing touches. MI were 62-2 when Ishan Kishan walked in at the start of the ninth over; by the time he was dismissed in the fifteenth over, MI had galloped to 144. The visitors finished strongly, adding 58 runs in the last four overs, to end at 210-6.
For KKR, Piyush Chawla was the most successful bowler. The leg-spinner, who conceded 22 runs in the 20th over, returned figures of 3-48. Sunil Narine, Tom Curran and Prasidh Krishna chipped in with a wicket each.
KKR’s chase never really took off. Chris Lynn (21) punished some wayward bowling from Mitchell McClenagahan early on, and Robin Uthappa struck a couple out of the ground, but none of the batsmen would go on to make a score bigger than 21. Batsman after batsman attempted to find the boundary, but failed; the run outs of Lynn and Dinesh Karthik didn’t help their cause. KKR were bowled out for 108 in 18.1 overs, in the process suffering their biggest defeat in the IPL.
Stand out batting performance
The highlight of MI’s innings was the performance of Ishan Kishan, who absolutely blitzed his way. It wasn’t the easiest track to bat on, but Kishan used his ability to muscle the ball and decimated the KKR bowling attack. Kuldeep Yadav got one past Kishan’s bat first ball, but it was the MI batsman who had the better in the duel. Kishan hit the wrist spinner for five sixes – including four in a row in the 14th over; one of those hits was a left-handed version of MS Dhoni’s trademark helicopter shot.
Young Kishan brought up his half-century off 17 balls – the joint fastest 50 by a MI batsman and the second-fastest half-century this season. His innings was culled in the fifteenth over when he swept Sunil Narine and got enough wood on the ball, but Robin Uthappa took a catch right at the edge of the square-leg boundary. Kishan’s innings contained 5 fours and 6 sixes; the left-hander had dominated the 82-run partnership with his captain Rohit Sharma.
Notable Support Act – Batting
Ben Cutting provided MI the perfect finish. He walked in to bat after Hardik Pandya’s cameo was ended by Tom Curran, and almost immediately announced himself striking the medium-pacer Prasidh Krishna for a six over long-on. And then the last over demolition of Chawla; the first ball was hit over long-on, the second ball disappeared into midwicket and the third ball was a boundary through midwicket. Cutting was dismissed off the penultimate ball of the innings, but his 24 of 9 balls had taken MI past the 200-run mark.
Stand out bowling performance
The wickets were shared by the six bowlers used by the Mumbai Indians. The Pandya brothers picked up two wickets each; the left-arm spinner Krunal returned figures of 2-12 from his 3.1 overs, while Hardik’s figures read 2-16 from three overs.
Mitchell McClenaghan dismissed the dangerous Sunil Narine in the first over, while Mayank Markande dismissed Robin Uthappa.
Stat of the Match
Ishan Kishan’s innings of 21 balls had 5 dot deliveries; so in effect, he had scored 62 in 16 scoring shots.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indians 210-6 (Suryakumar Yadav 36, Rohit Sharma 36, Ishan Kishan 62, Piyush Chawla 3-48) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 108 in 18.1 overs (Krunal Pandya 2-12, Hardik Pandya 2-16) by 102 runs.
Man of the Match:
Ishan Kishan, for his 21-ball 62.