Image Credit- Getty
The Kolkata Knight Riders’ spin twins, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, stifled the Mumbai Indians’ chase to secure a playoff berth for their team and an almost-certain finish in the top two on an evening that began with the ball swinging around like a boomerang following plenty of rain in Kolkata.
It was obvious from the start of this truncated game that the KKR openers would be fierce. After hitting a first-ball six off of Nuwan Thushara, Phil Salt was out of the game in the same over. Bumrah demonstrated some wizardry from the other end that Narine was unable to respond to.
Bumrah’s first ball was a yorker that tailed in just a bit at the end from outside off. Narine, who had shouldered arms to it, was flabbergasted by the late movement that took the base of the off stump. It was Narine’s first duck of this IPL.
In the cloudy sky, the ball was swinging and bothering the batters. Russell had not yet left the pitch when the hard-hitting openers were removed, and Venkatesh assumed control of the innings. In the powerplay, he scored 25 off 10 by going down the track, rocking back to pull the short balls, and using his reach. Against Bumrah, it also featured 14 off five balls.
When Piyush Chawla got Venkatesh to hole out for 42 off of 21, spin struck first. In his next two overs, Russell walked out and smoked Chawla over his head for a six and a four, coupled with a drill through the covers. Chawla emerged victorious when Russell struck a thunderbolt at 117 kmph, landing deep in midwicket.
In the final two overs, Thushara and Bumrah unleashed a barrage of yorkers, and KKR only managed to reach 150 thanks to two sixes apiece from Rinku and Ramandeep Singh.
In the first six overs, Rohit Sharma scored at a run per ball despite having trouble scoring runs. Ishan Kishan was left with the responsibility of hitting, and he flat-batted his way to 37 off 17 on the powerplay, which lasted for five overs in this game. He mostly sprayed the square boundaries with balls; the best two balls he hit were a four with a reverse hit and a six with a draw to bring MI to 59 at the end of the powerplay.
But in his next over, Narine was ready with a counterpunch, forcing Kishan to peg out for 40. Rohit’s ordeal came to an end on 19 when both ends of the ball had spin, resulting in a lot of stump-to-stump bowling and 17 straight balls without a boundary. The spinners were also seldom challenged by Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak, and the equation quickly changed from 36 to 77 needed.
This IPL has made the target of 57 from 18 all the more attainable, and Tilak kept the spark alive for MI when he took on Harshit Rana for 16 runs in the 14th over by hitting his slower balls to the ropes. Not 8 Inspired by Tilak, Naman Dhir hit Russell for two sixes and a four in a 19-run over that brought MI back in the game. With 22 needed from six, Dhir and Tilak fell in the first three deliveries of the last over, which sealed MI’s fate.