Mumbai Indians defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by ten runs in Match 5 of the Vivo IPL 2021 which was played in Chennai. Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and choose to field first. Mumbai Indians had a poor start to their innings as they lost Quinton De Kock early at the score of just ten. Then Suryakumar Yadav came to the crease and scored a blitzkrieg fifty and played the knock of 56 runs off just 36 deliveries.
Surya got out in the 11th over to Shakib who bowled pretty decently in the game. Then the pair of Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma was at the crease but they couldn’t hold for long as Ishan departed in the 12th over and Rohit got out in the 16th over of the MI innings. The middle-order failed miserably for MI and lower-order surrendered completely to Andre Russell who took a five-wicket haul in just two overs as he was introduced into the attack in the 18th over of the innings.
Eventually, MI managed a below-par score of 152 runs as they got all-out on the last delivery of the game. In the second half of the game, Kolkata Knight Riders started their chase on a positive note as their openers Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana added 72 runs for the first wicket in just 8.5 overs. Nitish Rana again flourished for KKR as he scores yet another fifty for his team. After such a start, KKR still faced a mid-innings collapse as they lost their four wickets for the next 50 runs after that opening stand.
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Rahul Chahar created a web around KKR batsmen as they couldn’t read his deliveries and Rahul bagged a four-wicket haul in his quota of four overs. The last five overs proved to be very tricky as Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik were unable to pull back the chase for KKR even though only a run a ball was required in the last five overs. Brilliant death bowling by Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult helped Mumbai win the game by 10 runs, off which looked out of their hands till the 15th over.
Hits
Rahul Chahar
Rahul Chahar is the man who actually turner the game towards Mumbai out of nowhere. He tore apart the KKR batting attack by picking up four wickets in his quota of four overs which eventually led to the downfall of the Kolkata Knight Riders in their chase. Rahul has been the goto man for Mumbai in crunch situations and this time he again proved his worth by giving a match-winning performance.
Krunal Pandya
Krunal Pandya was exceptional in his bowling display during the match. He gave away just 13 runs in his quota of four overs and even picked up a wicket. His contribution was very crucial in getting Mumbai Indians the win from the jaws of defeat. He bowled crucial overs in the death which paved the way for Mumbai’s success.
Nitish Rana
Nitish Rana scored another half-century as he gave KKR a rollicking start with Shubhman Gill in the chase of 153 runs. Though KKR lost the game, still the form of Rana would have sent positive signals in the team dugout. He has been in good form this season having now hit two consecutive fifties. Kolkata would now hope that Nitish carries the same form forward in the coming games for the team.
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Flops
Kieron Pollard
Kieron Pollard has been completely out of form this season as he has now failed in two consecutive games. MI would be pondering over the form of Pollard as they have seen their middle-order collapse of which the Caribbean is strength. Mumbai would hope Pollard gets to form as soon as possible so as to set a good campaign trail for the franchise in the coming games.
Eoin Morgan
Eoin Morgan is arguably among the best skippers in modern-day cricket. He is a very fine batsman and a calm captain as was seen in the latter stages of the IPL last year. His form this year though is cutting a sorry figure because of which the KKR side is having a middle-order collapse in two consecutive games now. Today also he couldn’t do much and in the end, Kolkata lost the game by ten runs. The franchise would be hoping for an early return of some batting form for Morgan.
