Image Credit- BCCI
Kolkata Knight Riders cemented their position near the top of the IPL standings, but Mumbai Indians’ chances of making it to the last four were severely damaged.
The franchise brain trust will need to investigate how MI lost a match in which they took five wickets against KKR in the first 37 overs. In essence, however, MI did not go for the kill at 43 for 4, then 57 for 5, when they had KKR on the ropes. And even though MI’s Bumrah skillfully ended the innings, the fact that they gave KKR a chance to rally with an 83-run partnership between Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey would ultimately come back to haunt them.
Prior to Starc unleashing his ball-handling wizardry, KKR required a means of defence. And the cornerstone of KKR’s innings was Venkatesh’s 70 off 52. He was fast off the bat, striking two fours in his first four deliveries, then calmed down a bit as wickets came at the other end. To their great credit, nevertheless, KKR’s run rate did not significantly decline in spite of the dismissals. After five overs, they were 51 for 4, and after ten overs, they were 83 for 5, reaching triple figures in the twelfth over of the innings.
This has been made possible, in large part, by Pandey and Venkatesh, who continued to look for boundary possibilities rather than delving too deeply into accumulation mode. In the 17th, Pandey was out for 42 off 31. Iyer stayed till the 20th, and was the last to be out off the penultimate ball.
MI only required 51 runs from the final five overs, even after their dismal start, with Suryakumar at the crease on 56. Suryakumar will feel he should have done better with the knee-high full toss he received on the second ball from Andre Russell, who bowled the 16th over. Rather than sending it sailing into the legside stands, he hit a massive top edge that veered towards fine leg, where wicketkeeper Phil Salt was able to easily collect it in his gloves.
But in the end, Starc was the one who destroyed MI’s prospects. In his astounding 17th over, he gave up just three runs to the opposition. And he did give up a six off the first ball of the 19th over, when MI needed 32 from the final two overs, but Tim David was caught at long the next ball, Piyush Chawla chipped one to extra cover right away, and he wiped out the innings with a yorker that removed Gerald Coetzee’s middle stump.