There is something about Mumbai Indians and their results against Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede stadium in IPL history. Mumbai Indians, once again, defeated KKR in the same venue on Sunday, which was their sixth win in seven matches. The home team definitely seems to have the winning formula as they won a tight match from a difficult situation.
It was due to some sheer brilliance of Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya, who hit some lusty blows at the end, which paved the way for Mumbai Indians' win. Skipper Rohit Sharma, who had won the toss, and decided to bowl first, proved to be the right choice as they used the due factor to their advantage while chasing 179 runs for victory.
The visitors got off to a great start with both Chris Lynn and Gautam Gambhir dealing in boundaries. The duo took the attack to the opposition scoring at 10 runs per over in the first four overs.
Rohit , realising that the pacers were not troubling the duo, introduced Krunal Pandya and it worked wonders as the slow left-arm took two wickets of Gamabhir (19, 13b, 3x4) and Robin Uthappa in one over.
But, Lynn, who only knows one way to play the game, played aggressively, and his presence was putting pressure on the home team. Lynn's approach was positive throughout, which always kept Mumbai on their toes, and they could finally relax with Jasprit Bumrah finally dismissing Lynn (32, 24b, 3x4, 1x6) in the eighth over of the match.
Suddenly, KKR, with three quick wickets, were looking at Manish Pandey (81, 47b, 5x4, 5x6) and Yusuf Pathan to form a good partnership and build the innings once again.
The Mumbai Indians' bowlers were bowling it tight in the middle overs, which also led to the dismissal of Pathan, who tried to hit K Pandya for a six, but was caught by Hardik Pandya at the boundary line. It was K Pandya's third wicket of the match.
However, Pandey and Suryakumar Yadav build a decent partnership, with the former looking in dangerous form. With Yadav's dismissal, Pandey held the key for KKR in the last few overs. The right-hander played an important role, scoring 47-bal 81 comprising two sixes in the last over.
With KKR scoring 178 runs in 20 overs, Mumbai Indians had to start well, and all eyes were on openers, Jos Buttler and Parthiv Patel.
There was some swing in the offing for the KKR pacers Trent Boult and Chris Woakes, who were not allowing any freebies to Buttler and Parthiv. Despite all those, both the players went about their job in a decent manner, scoring 49 runs in the first six overs without losing a single wicket.
Buttler (30, 27b, 3x4, 1x6) and Parthiv might not been able to produce quality shots in the first six overs as they would have liked but they set a good platform.
However, there were some controversial decisions from the umpires in the middle, and they were soon 97 for the loss of four wickets, which brought Kieron Pollard in the middle.
The West Indian was under huge pressure to deliver along with Nitish Rana with the required run rate above 12 plus runs per over. And it soon climbed to 15 runs per over in the last four, which was always going to be difficult, and with Pollard losing his wicket early in the first ball of the 17th over, the task looked even more difficult.
But then, with Rana (50, 29b, 5x4, 3x6) and Pandya (29, 11b, 3x4, 2x6) they were still in the game. The duo turned the game on its head, as they required 30 runs from 12 balls, which was achievable with the way they were striking the ball. Ankit Rajpoot, who was bowling the second last over of the game, might have taken Rana's wicket, but MI hit 19 runs, hence the home team needed 11 runs from 6 balls.
Mumbai Indians romped home with some poor fielding in the final over, which included a drop catch and a misfield, which led to a boundary as well. Pandya, deservedly, hit the winning runs.
With this win, Mumbai Indians have also opened their account in the points tally.
Match scorecard
KKR: 178/7 in 20 overs
MI: 180/6 in 19.5 overs
Result: MI win by 4 wickets.
Bowling: MI:Lasith Malinga 4-0-36-2; Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-51-1; Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-39-1; Krunal Pandya 4-0-24-3; Harbhajan Singh 4-0-27-0;
KKR:Trent Boult 3.5-0-47-0;Chris Woakes 4-0-34-1; Sunil Narine 4-0-22-1;Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-35-1; Ankit Rajpoot 4-0-37-3;
Fall of wickets: KKR: 1-44, Gambhir (4.2 ov), 2-48, Uthappa (4.5 ov), 3-67, Lynn (7.3 ov), 4-87, Pathan (11.4 ov), 5-131, Yadav, (16.1 ov), 6-144, Woakes (18.1 ov), 7-178, Narine (19.6 ov)
MI: 1-65, Patel (7.3 ov), 2-71, Buttler (8.3 ov), 3-74, Sharma (9.5 ov), 4-97, KH Pandya (12.1 ov), 5-119, Pollard (16.1 ov), 6-160, Rana (18.3 ov)
