Images from Friday's IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians, in Abu Dhabi.
Defending champions Mumbai continued their relentless march, thrashing Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets in the Indian Premier League match, at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, in Abu Dhabi, on Friday.
Chasing 149 for victory, Mumbai Indians' opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock led the charge, hitting up the required runs in 16.5 overs for the loss of just two wickets.
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While Rohit scored 35 off 36 balls, including five fours, de Kock hammered four sixes and nine fours in his 78 off 44 balls.
A fifth straight victory swelled Mumbai Indians’ points tally to 12 from eight games and kept them atop the table. The Knight Riders have eight points from as many outings.
Just when Mumbai Indians were coasting, Shivam Mavi provided Kolkata the breakthrough in the 11th over, dismissing Rohit, who edged one and was well-taken by Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps.
Kolkata struck again in the 14th over. Suryakumar Yadav tried to sweep Varun Chakravarthy, missed and was bowled. He walked back scoring 10 from 10 balls.
But there were no further hiccups as de Kock and Hardik Pandya (21 off 11 balls) easily sealed victory.
Earlier, pace spearhead Cummins struck an invaluable 36-ball 53 to rally Kolkata Knight Riders from a precarious position after they elected to bat.
After a top-order failure, the Australian fast bowler (5x4;2x6) and new skipper Eoin Morgan (39 not out off 29 balls; 2x4; 2x6) conjured up 87 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket, to give Kolkata a decent total.
Opting to bat, Kolkata lost opener Rahul Tripathi (7) early, courtesy a sensational catch by Suryakumar Yadav at point, in the third over off Trent Boult (1/32).
Tripathi cut and Yadav, at point, leapt high to get Tripathi’s wicket. He faced just 9 balls.
It became 33 for 2 as Nitish Rana (5) perished cheaply, caught by Quinton De Kock off Nathan Coulter-Nile (1/51). The short ball worked for the Australian pacer in the sixth over.
Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (2/18) struck twice in the eighth over, removing the young Shubham Gill (21) and Dinesh Karthik (4) off successive balls and Kolkata were reduced to 42 for four.
While Gill holed out to Kieron Pollard at long-on in an attempt to accelerate the run-rate, Karthik played on to the stumps.
The Knight Riders lost half their side for 61 as Andre Russell perished for 12. A bouncer from Jasprit Bumrah (1/22) did the trick as Russell lobbed off a sitter to de Kock.
Cummins smashed Nathan Coulter-Nile for two fours and a maximum in the 13th over, which fetched Kolkata 16 runs and then made optimum use of a life he got.
Cummins and Morgan added 53 in the last five overs. They were particularly brutal against Coulter-Nile, who leaked 51 runs in his four overs.
