MI storm into top four with massive win over KKR

Former Australia all-rounder Ben Cutting played his part as defending champions Mumbai Indians moved up to fourth in the Indian Premier League with a resounding 102-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders.

KKR slipped to 108 all out and suffering their second successive defeat which also sees them drop out of the playoff positions with the 102 run win powering the Mumbai Indians into fourth place on the log.

It continued Mumbai’s excellent record against Kolkata. Kolkata Knight Riders was all out for 108 in 18.1 overs. Meanwhile, MI skipper Sharma, added, “The last game we played against them, we batted and posted a decent score, so nothing changes for us”. Kishan blasted a 21-ball 62. including 4 consecutive sixes off Kuldeep.

That was just the start though.

Narine set up the stage for an ordinary-looking Chawla to give the breakthrough in the sixth over as the desperate Mumbai batsmen looked to break free against the leg-spinner who accounted for both the openers.

The momentum shifted in favour of MI in the 14th over that yielded 25 runs with Ishan making a mockery of chinaman Kuldeep’s bowling. ‘You can hit well just look at the ball and get with the flow’. Mumbai registered the highest IPL total at this venue. His strike rate read 295.24 and the innings was star-studded with five fours and six huge sixes.

Skipper Rohit Sharma (36) and Ishan together made a 82-run partnership for the third wicket off just 34 balls.

He ended with figures of 1-24 from three overs as every Mumbai bowler claimed a Kolkata scalp.

Chasing a target in excess of 200 was always going to be a challenge. Under Pressure to get off to a flier, KKR did spark early on but soon after they went on to lose wickets in bunches, which derailed them totally and took them out of the game. Taking the bitter loss at chin, Karthik feels there’s a need for him to stand up as captain and make the team believe that a top-4 finish is still possible. Uthappa and Nitish Rana tried damage control and took the score to 47 for 2 after the Powerplay overs.

Curran chipped in with 18 off 17 but the game had gone as Krunal Pandya (2-12) and Hardik Pandya (2-16) finished with a cheap brace apiece. The throw at the non-striker’s end found captain Karthik well short of the crease even though there was some uncertainty over whether Hardik had collected the ball cleanly.