 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya produced match-winning performances with the bat while Krunal Pandya shone with the ball as Mumbai Indians pulled off a sensational four-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League in Mumbai on Sunday.
Chasing the visitors’ total of 178 for seven, built mainly around Manish Pandey’s swashbuckling 47-ball 81, Mumbai got off to a superb start before losing four wickets in a cluster and looked down in the dumps at 119 for five before pulling off a thrilling win with a ball to spare.
The heroes of Mumbai's thrilling run-chase were one-down batsman Nitish Rana, who kept them in the hunt when wickets fell around him to make a 29-ball 50, and Hardik, who cracked an 11-ball 29 to clinch a thrilling win.
Pandya also hit the winning stroke, a four towards long leg, in a dramatic last over after being dropped in the same over of Trent Boult, as Mumbai recorded their first win in two games, having lost their lung-opener to Rising Pune Supergiant on April 6.
Mumbai needed 49 runs off the last three overs and the 18th over by Boult swung the game their way as he was hit for two sixes, one each by Rana and Pandya, conceding 19 runs that brought down the run rate.
Although Rana departed in the penultimate over from Ankit Rajpoot after reaching his 50 in 28 balls, Pandya struck Rajpoot for a six to bring down the equation to eleven from six balls.
He then rode his luck in the final over in which there was a misfield that got him a four and then the dropped catch reprieved him before he hit the winning four.
In the Mumbai run-chase, openers Parthiv Patel (30) and Jos Buttler (28) put on 65 runs before the partnership was broken in the 8th over by Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Singh who trapped left-handed Patel in front.
Mumbai, then, lost the wickets of Buttler and captain Rohit Sharma, who were both declared out leg before off a full toss and a clear inside-edge respectively by Ankit Rajpoot and Sunil Narine.
Both looked not out on TV replays and Sharma, out to the sixth ball he faced, was incensed with the decision of umpire C K Nandan and remonstrated, showing his bat, for which he may face censure from the match referee.
And when Krunal Pandya was caught behind to a leg side deflection, Mumbai were left struggling at 97 for four in the 13th over.
Rana smacked Kuldeep for a six and a four in successive balls while the big-made Kieron Pollard pulled Rajput from wide of stumps over the mid-wicket to keep the hunt on as Mumbai crossed 100.
But the asking rate kept climbing leaving Mumbai to get 60 in the last four overs and Pollard also fell soon after to Woakes.
However, Rana and Hardik went after the KKR bowlers and struck a flurry of boundaries and sixes to help their team clinch an unlikely win.
Earlier, Manish Pandey smashed an unbeaten 81 off 47 balls to help Kolkata Knight Riders recover from a mini collapse and reach 178 for seven against Mumbai Indians.
The visitors, asked to bat first, made a brisk start when openers Chris Lynn (32) and captain Gautam Gambhir (19) put on 44 runs in four overs before losing their way against left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya.
Krunal's twin strike in the fifth over reduced the Knight Riders from 44 for no loss to 48 for two and then 87 for four before the innings was revived by Pandey.
The Karnataka batsman struck Mitchell McClenaghan for two sixes and as many fours in the last over of the innings that produced 23 runs.
It was mainly due to the Karnataka batsman’s late assault that the total crossed the 150 mark.
But apart from his superb knock, the KKR innings lacked character.
Krunal finished with fine figures of 3 for 24 while Malinga got 2 for 36 while McClenaghan finished with 1 for 51.
Kolkata were off to a flyer with Lynn and Gambhir scoring freely against the medium-pacers so that after four overs the score was an impressive 44 without loss.
The duo had come into the game after powering the Knight Riders to a comprehensive ten-wicket win over Gujarat Lions at Rajkot two nights ago after putting up a first wicket all-time high record of 184 with Lynn cracking a 41-ball 93.
He again looked in good touch and also smacked a short ball from McClenaghan over the mid-wicket area into the stands when the left arm bowler from New Zealand pitched short.
Lasith Malinga, the IPL’s highest wicket taker who had missed the last IPL edition, was off target initially and gave away runs.
Jasprit Bumrah was hit for two successive fours by Gambhir while McClenaghan too was expensive and it was Krunal who arrested the Knight Riders’ progress with a double strike in the fifth over of the innings that packed off Gambhir (19) and one-down Robin Uthappa (4).
Bumrah came back into the attack and dismissed the dangerous-looking Lynn, trapping the batsman leg before when he played across the line.
The early momentum gone, Harbhajan Singh was brought into the attack after eight overs and the offie, who was surprisingly omitted for ‘tactical’ reasons in the away lung-opener against Rising Pune Supergiant, kept the batsmen quiet in his first two overs.
Krunal picked up his third wicket later by inducing his Baroda team mate Yusuf Pathan to loft the ball to long off for his brother Hardik to accept a straight-forward catch which left KKR at 87 for four after 12 overs.
The 100 came up in the 14th over before Surya Yadav struck Harbhajan for two fours in the bowler’s last over to spoil his figures a bit.
The well-set Pandey lofted Bumrah over long on for his second six and then hit him for a four too in the 16th over before Malinga returned to the attack and picked up Yadav with his first ball, caught by Kieron Pollard at long on, and followed it up with a similar dismissal of Chris Woakes in his final over.
But Pandey remained till the end and smacked the ball around especially in the final over bowled by McClenaghan.