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IPL PHOTOS: Spinners, Uthappa guide KKR to victory
Kolkata Knight Riders turned in a fine all-round performance to thrash Mumbai Indians by six wickets in the IPL match in Cuttack on Wednesday.
First, the spinners strangled the Mumbai batsmen in the middle overs, and then a masterful 52-ball 80 from Robin Uthappa took the game away from the defending champions.
Harbhajan Singh tried his best, claiming 2 for 22, but eventually Mumbai did not have enough runs on the board to challenge Kolkata.
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Mumbai off to a poor start
Mumbai were on the backfoot from the onset, as they lost CM Gautam in the third over of the innings.
Gautam, looking to drive one through the off-side, was caught by Surya Kumar Yadav in the covers off Morne Morkel.
Lendl Simmons was undone by a delivery that kept low and the ball crashed onto his leg stump, off Shakib al-Hasan.
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Rayudu, Rohit steady Mumbai
Ambati Rayudu and Rohit Sharma then put their head down and steadied Mumbai.
On a slow surface, the duo took singles and twos, besides getting the odd boundary.
Rayudu smashed Morkel in to the stands to make his intentions clear, and then hit one over mid-off to collect his first boundary.
But he threw his wicket away as he tried to hit out of a sagging run-scoring situation and was caught at long-on by Yadav.
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Rohit leads Mumbai's charge
Rohit and Corey Anderson then took upon the mantle and looked to score quick runs in the final overs.
Anderson attacked Piyush Chawla for a six and boundary, and Rohit too joined the party, smashing the leg-spinner into the stands as Mumbai got the much-needed momentum.
Rohit latched on to Morkel and hit him for couple of sixes before getting to a half-century with a boundary off Umesh Yadav from 43 balls.
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KKR off to a positive start in the chase
On a tricky Cuttack track, Kolkata, in reply, got off to a positive start.
Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa were cautious against Lasith Malinga, but attacked Jasprit Bumrah.
The latter was smashed for consecutive boundaries by Uthappa, while Gambhir played one fine off his pads.
Harbhajan Singh, however, provided the opening breakthrough as he castled Gambhir for 14, but not before the Kolkata skipper put up a half-century opening stand.
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Uthappa charges with half-century
Uthappa kept calm and stoked his way to another half-century to lead KKR’s charge.
He and Manish Pandey further enhanced Kolkata’s chances with a 46-runs stand, before Habhajan struck again to remove Manish Pandey.
Uthappa reached his half-century with a single off Lendl Simmons and then took on the bowler, hitting him for twin sixes as KKR rocketed towards the target of 142, with eight balls to spare.
By the time Uthappa was dismissed by Simmons, KKR had the game in their pocket.