During the 41st match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians (MI) at Kolkata, Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 102 runs to move to No. 4 in the points table.
After Dinesh Karthik won the toss and put the visitors in to bat, Mumbai Indians scored 210-6 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. Mumbai Indians posted the highest-ever IPL score at Kolkata, which depicts that what they achieved wasn’t easy.
In the second innings, Kolkata Knight Riders struggled big time from the inception to the extent that they never really got the momentum which was required to chase a 211-run target. A blend of poor run rate and wickets falling at regular intervals put curtains for them as far as sealing this chase was concerned.
Now, we will look at the hits and flops players in this match.
Hits
Ishan Kishan (MI) – Promoted up the order to No. 4 in the batting order, Ishan Kishan proved as to why he in deserves to bat in the Top 4. Coming in to bat in the 10th over, Kishan changed the course of the match within no time. There came a situation where the spectators had forgotten that Rohit Sharma was batting at the other end. He scored his third IPL half-century, 62 (21), with the help of five fours and six sixes.
Hardik Pandya (MI) – Coming in to bat at No. 5 in the 15th over, Hardik Pandya played a useful cameo with the bat in hand. He scored 19 (13) with the help of two sixes. In the second innings, he registered bowling figures of 3-0-16-2, picking up the wickets of Andre Russell (2) and Nitish Rana (21).
Krunal Pandya (MI) – Coming in to bat at No. 7 in the penultimate over of the innings, Krunal Pandya did not get much opportunity in the first innings. He scored 8* in the two balls that he faced. Opening the bowling alongside Mitchell McClenaghan, he ended up with bowling figures of 3.1-0-12-2, the best for his team tonight.
Flops
Kuldeep Yadav (KKR) – Having become an integral part of India’s limited-overs side, Kuldeep Yadav was expected to dominate in this season of the IPL. An different season, as he is going through, was visible in his today’s performance. His bowling figures of 3-0-43-0 speak enough about the thrashing he went through tonight.
Robin Uthappa (KKR) – Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the first over itself, Robin Uthappa was expected to stand tall on the expectations bestowed upon him. However, he played a loose shot to score 14 (13) with the help of a couple of sixes to let his team down.
Dinesh Karthik (KKR) – Coming in to bat at No. 6 in the eighth over, Dinesh Karthik didn’t contribute much to his team’s total. He became a victim of a mix-up, scoring 5 (3) with the help of one four. Apart from his batting, a couple of his captaincy decision also remained debatable tonight.
