Mumbai Indians dominated proceedings against Kolkata Knight Riders during Match 41 of the Indian Premier League on Wednesday (May 9). Chasing Mumbai's massive tally of 210 for 6, KKR were bowled out for 108 in 18 overs, going down by a big 102-run margin in their penultimate home encounter of the season at Eden Gardens.
Asked to bat, Mumbai started well, with Evin Lewis and Suryakumar Yadav giving them a solid start. The openers put up 46 runs without the loss of any wickets in 5.3 overs before Piyush Chawla got rid of Lewis, caught by Chris Lynn at short third man for 18 off 13 balls. Fall of wicket did not affect the batsmen much, with Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar continuing to attack the bowlers with some good shots. Suryakumar hit 36 off 32 balls, hitting five fours and a six during his stay in the middle.
Chawla accounted for Suryakumar's wicket in the ninth over, bringing Ishan Kishan to the middle. Rohit, the senior partner in the stand, watched on as Kishan played a cameo. The youngster smashed 62 off just 21 balls, with six sixes and five boundaries against his name. He upped the ante against Kuldeep Yadav, who he hit four sixes off in a single over to tilt the momentum towards the visiting side.
Sunil Narine got rid of Kishan in the 15th over, but by then, the scoreboard read 144 for 3, with Mumbai in the driver's seat. Rohit went on to score 36, and Hardik Pandya (19 off 13) and Ben Cutting (24 off 9) chipped in to take Mumbai past the 200-run mark and set up a gargantuan total for their side.
KKR stuttered early in their response, losing Sunil Narine off just the second ball of the chase. Lynn hit a few good shots to the fence, but a mix-up between him and Dinesh Karthik led to him being run out in the fourth over, reducing KKR to 32 for 2. Robin Uthappa, who hit two sixes to give KKR some hope, perished trying to sweep a delivery to the fence. He was caught by Suryakumar off the bowling of Mayank Markande.
Robin's exit paved the way for a mid-innings debacle, and KKR lost Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh in quick succession. Piyush Chawla and Tom Curran resisted for a while, but the chase was well off track by then. Chawla scored 12 at run-a-ball and Curran ended with 18 off 17 balls, but it was only a matter of time before the innings folded for the hosts.
KKR will now travel to Indore to take on Kings XI Punjab on Saturday.