IPL 2018: Ishan Kishan stars as Mumbai Indians overpower KKR

While Ishan Kishan’s blitzkrieg ensured MI would have ended somewhere around 180-185 but Ben Cutting’s quickfire assault in the final over against Piyush Chawla took MI beyond KKR.

His partnership of 82 runs from 34 balls provided the impetus to MI’s innings to score big. He batted really well and he played some nice shots.

Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Rinku Singh, all departed for 2, 5 and 5 respectively. If you get the ball, hit, otherwise you can go for a single as well. Kishan’s 21-ball 62 saw him join Kieron Pollard as the joint fastest fifty for MI. KKR were beaten the last time they clashed agaisnt MI at the Wankhede Stadium.

If you’re a KKR fan, stick with the spinners.

Mumbai are finally finishing games well – the inablity to do so hurt them in the first half – and are clinching important moments in their matches.

“Kuldeep is outgoing for me (the one that turns away from me) but he loves to bowl the googly at me”.

“Hitting wasn’t easy as the ball was sticking in”, said Rohit, “Ishan just came in and changed momentum”. It was like keep watching the ball. The target was so massive that they had no option but to hit the ball, which resulted in continuous fall of wickets.

Rohit was also thrilled to watch Kishan in full bloom with bat in hand. “They knew if I was there, I can get a lot of runs”, he added.

Kishan spoke with uncanny confidence something that has stemmed from promising form. On that occasion, it was MI that came out on top. After so many losses in the early stage, Mumbai Indians are finally back on the track and looking to win the rest of the games to confirm their playoff entry. The win is a must for both teams for the run-up race. Umpire K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan felt Curran overstepped in the fifth ball of the 16th over, but the replays confirmed that he had half his feet behind the crease.

Kishan’s T20 numbers make an impressive reading. Rohit’s strike rate against Vinay is only 66.67. Also, it helps if you are batting up the order. “It is always good for a youngster when the team management and the captain backs him”. “I’m glad we came together as a team and performed well”.

However, I believe, from here Karthik and Co should take one game at a time and certainly need to raise their game. “I think the way he has executed (his skills) is exceptional but the way he has stayed calm under pressure and had same sort of demeanour throughout success or failure has been great to see and admirable in my point of view for most of India to be honest”, Duminy said.