Veteran batter Manish Pandey stood up when it mattered and delivered for KKR. Manish Pandey is a legend in these parts of the world. He put his head down and applied themselves there. MI were put into bat first, and they faltered big time, losing wickets at will. The likes of Saurabh Dubey, Cameron Green, and Kartik Tyagi picked up 2 wickets each to keep MI at bay and kept them down to 147/8 in 20 overs.
In reply, KKR rode on a responsible 45 runs off 33 balls from Pandey while Rovman Powell scored 40 runs. The others chipped in as Bosch took 3 wickets for MI. Rovman Powell looked good for his 40 off 30 balls. All in all, it was great going with KKR as they restricted MI to a below-par score. Later, they chased it down to move to 6th in the points table.
Disciplined bowling by KKR restricts MI to 147/8 in 20 overs
Put into bat first, keeper batter Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma came out to open the batting for MI while Anukul Roy had the ball in hand for KKR. MI began steadily with KKR bowling right lines and lengths. The duo added 17 runs for the first wicket before Rickelton fell for 6 off 7 balls, with one four to his name, to Cameron Green. Naman Dhir came out to bat next. Green had two in the over as he dismissed Naman for a bronze duck caught behind, and the batter wasted the review as well.
Suryakumar Yadav came out to bat next. Rohit and Surya tried to forge a partnership but could add only 6 runs to the tally before Rohit threw his wicket away for 15 off 13 balls with 2 sixes to his name to Saurabh Dubey. Tilak Varma came out to bat next. Surya came and played his shots, hitting a supla shot for the maximum and a couple of boundaries. But his innings were cut short. Surya and Tilak added 18 runs for the 4th wicket before Surya dragged one back into the stumps off Dubey for 15 off 6 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name.
Captain Hardik Pandya came out to bat inside the power play. MI were 46/4 in 6 overs of power play. The duo tried to forge some sort of a partnership to rebuild the innings. MI were 57/4 in 8 overs when play was halted due to a downpour in Kolkata. But we got underway after an hour’s delay with no overs lost. The duo carried on after the break and tried to lay the platform. It was a struggle for Tilak, and he knows what needs to be done to do well.
Tilak never really got going and managed to hit a maximum after he was dropped by Varun off his own bowling, thanks to the keeper’s interference. But Tilak did not last long. The duo of Hardik and Tilak added 43 runs for the 5th wicket before Tilak fell for a painstaking 20 off 32 balls with one six to his name to Kartik Tyagi. Will Jacks came out to bat next. Jacks and Pandya tried to forge a partnership and added 11 runs for the 6th wicket before Pandya fell for 26 off 27 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name to Sunil Narine, who cleaned him up.
Corbin Bosch came out to bat next. Jacks was looking good out there and added 10 runs with Bosch before Jacks was unfortunately run out for 14 off 7 balls with one four and one six to his name. Deepak Chahar came out to bat next with MI in all sorts of trouble. The bowling was tight from the KKR bowlers and did not give an inch. Corbin Bosch gave the team the impetus it needed. He provided the finishing kick.
Deepak Chahar also played his part to support Corbin Bosch. The last 4 overs were good for MI as they scored quickly and made 52 runs thanks to Bosch’s efforts. The duo added 42 runs for the 8th wicket in quick time before Chahar fell off the final ball of the innings to Kartik Tyagi for 10 off 7 balls with 2 fours to his name. Bosch remained unbeaten on 32 off 18 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name. MI finished with 147/8 in 20 overs with 9 extras given by the fielding side.
It was a great bowling display by KKR till the last 4 overs when MI came back a bit. Saurabh Dubey finished with 2/34 in 4 overs. Cameron Green finished with 2/23 in 3 overs. Kartik Tyagi finished with 2/37 in 4 overs, which included a 19-run over as well. Sunil Narine finished with 1/13 in 4 overs. Varun Chakarvarthy finished with 0/28 in 4 overs. Anukul Roy bowled an over for 6 runs. This meant that KKR needed 148 runs to win off 20 overs to keep the hopes alive.
Manish Pandey’s responsible 45 enables KKR to hold their nerves for a 4-wicket win
Chasing 148 for the win, captain Ajinkya Rahane and Finn Allen came out to bat for KKR while Deepak Chahar had the ball in hand for MI. Allen managed to get a couple of boundaries away in the first over. The opening combination put on 10 runs for the first wicket before Allen, the Impact Player, fell for 8 off 5 balls with 2 fours to his name as he was clean bowled by Deepak Chahar. Manish Pandey came out to bat next.
Manish Pandey and Rahane put on a partnership to rebuild proceedings for KKR. The duo played the power play overs with care. They put on 38 runs for the second wicket before Rahane fell for 21 off 17 balls with 4 fours to his name to Corbin Bosch. Cameron Green came out to bat next. The power play score for KKR after 6 overs was 51/2. The duo of Pandey and Green added 6 runs for the third wicket before Green fell for 4 off 8 balls to Corbin Bosch.
Rovman Powell came out to bat next. Powell got off the mark with the maximum. Powell and Pandey then forged an important partnership to bring KKR within touching distance of the win. Powell was the aggressor while Pandey held his nerve in the end. They aced the middle phase and added 64 runs off 48 balls for the 4th wicket. The score reached 118 when Pandey fell for 45 off 33 balls with 6 fours to his name to Jasprit Bumrah, who cleaned him up. Rinku Singh came out to bat next.
Powell and Rinku added 6 runs to the tally before Powell fell for a well-made 40 off 30 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Allah Ghazanfar. Concussion substitute Tejasvi Dahiya came out to bat next. Dahiya got a couple of boundaries away. The duo of Dahiya and Rinku Singh put on 16 runs for the 6th wicket before Dahiya fell for 11 off 12 balls with 2 fours to his name to Bosch yet again. Anukul Roy came out to bat next.
Anukul got off the mark soon. Rinku and Anukul guided the ship home calmly and added 8 runs for the 7th wicket before the winning runs were scored in 18.5 overs. Rinku remained unbeaten on 9 off 5 balls with 2 fours to his name while Roy made an unbeaten 4 off 4 balls. KKR finished with 148/6 in 18.5 overs with 6 extras given by the fielding side.
For MI, it was a mixed day for the bowlers. Corbin Bosch was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/30 in 3 overs. Jasprit Bumrah finished with 1/26 in 4 overs. Allah Ghazanfar finished with 1/25 in 4 overs as an impact player. Deepak Chahar finished with 1/23 in 3 overs. Hardik Pandya bowled 2 overs for 13 runs. Raghu Sharma went for 23 runs in 2 overs. Will Jacks bowled 5 balls and gave away 7 runs. So, KKR beats MI by 4 wickets with 7 balls to spare. Manish Pandey was awarded the Player of the Match Award.
What Lies Ahead
So, KKR keeps their slim hopes alive as they move to 13 points and upwards to 6th in the points table, while MI stays in 9th place. KKR next faces DC on Sunday evening in Kolkata, while MI will face RR in the afternoon game in Mumbai. Next up, it’s GT hosting CSK from Ahmedabad. GT will want a win to be in the top 2. CSK needs a win to climb upwards in the points table. Let’s see how the last round of matches pans out tonight.
All to play for in Kolkata on Sunday evening.
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