Rahul Chahar (4-27) and Krunal Pandya (4-0-13-1) helped Mumbai Indians (MI) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 10 runs on Tuesday in the fifth match of the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. After being asked to bat first, MI were bowled out for 152 as Andre Russell picked up 5-15 late in the innings. Then Chahar picked up wickets at regular intervals, while Krunal made run-scoring difficult, and Mumbai turned things around to pull off a convincing victory.
KKR began the match with a spinner at each end, and the plan worked to perfection. Quinton de Kock could not get hold of a flighted delivery from Varun Chakravarthy in the second over and ended up hitting straight to Rahul Tripathi at long-on.
Coming at No. 3, Suryakumar Yadav did not take time to settle down. He smashed four eye-soothing boundaries off a Harbhajan Singh over. But captain Morgan still stuck to spin inside Powerplay and introduced Shakib Al Hasan next. The KKR spinners bowled the first five overs of the MI innings, conceding just 37 runs.
Suryakumar, along with skipper Rohit Sharma, rebuilt the Mumbai innings after de Kock’s early departure. In the eighth over, bowled by Prasidh Krishna, he hit six, four, and four off three consecutive deliveries. He soon brought up his half-century by smashing a 99-metre six off Pat Cummins. Mumbai were 86/1 at one stage.
Suryakumar (56 off 36 balls) and Rohit (43 in 32) added 76 in 51 balls before the former mistimed a shot to long-on. Morgan brought Pat Cummins back. This ploy, too, worked: Cummins dug the ball in a short length, almost forcing Ishan Kishan (1) to play a hook straight to Prasidh at deep fine leg.
Cummins, in the 16th over, then got an important breakthrough with a slower off-cutter that bamboozled Rohit, took the inside edge, and crashed on to the stumps.
After conceding 28 in the first two overs, Prasidh returned to remove Hardik Pandya (15 in 17). Russell then came to bowl for the first time in the 18th over and got two wickets, of Kieron Pollard (5) and Marco Jansen (golden duck), conceding just 5. He took three more in the 20th over. Despite being bowled out, Mumbai finished the innings strongly, scoring 22 in the last 12.
Nitish Rana walked out with Shubman Gill to begin the chase for Kolkata. They started tentatively, scoring 8 off the first two overs before shifting gears. Rohit was forced to bring Jasprit Bumrah into the attack early but the latter failed to make an impact, conceding nine in his first over. KKR were 45/0 after the Powerplay.
Gill and Rana put an impressive 72-run opening stand (off 53 balls) before the former hit straight to Pollard at mid-off of Chahar. Chahar also got Rahul Tripathi (5) in his next over with a sharp turner.
Rana, however, continued his stellar form, notching up his second half-century of the tournament and 13th overall. This one took him 40 balls. But Chahar picked up his third wicket of the night by sending Morgan (7) back to the pavilion. Despite that, Kolkata needed 49 runs in 42 balls with seven wickets in hand.
Rohit introduced himself as a bowler in the 14th over and nearly got a wicket with his very first delivery. But once again it was Chahar who rose to the occasion, removing a well-set Rana. In the following over, Shakib mistimed a slog sweep off Krunal, a wicket that brought Mumbai back into the game.
Coming at No. 7, Russell was dropped on 0 and 5 by Krunal and Bumrah respectively. Kolkata needed 19 from the last two to win the contest.
However, in the 20th, Russell (9 off 15) finally surrendered himself to Trent Boult. Cummins fell first ball, and Mumbai extended their utter dominance over Kolkata.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indians 152 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 56; Andre Russell 5-15) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 142/7 in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 57; Rahul Chahar 4-27) by 10 runs. Player of the Match: Rahul Chahar.