Kolkata Knight Riders registered a 5-wicket win against Mumbai Indians at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. They have now replaced Rajasthan Royals as No. 1 in the IPL 2022 points table.
KKR’s win was scripted by Pat Cummins, who scored an unbeaten 56 off 15 balls, and Venkatesh Iyer, who scored a scintillating half-century. Chasing 162 runs, KKR were in trouble after losing Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Sam Billings and Andre Russell and there was still some work to be done.
However, Cummins, who was playing his first match of IPL 2022, teamed up with Venkatesh to hand Mumbai Indians their third defeat in as many matches this season. Cummins equaled the record for the fastest fifty in the Indian Premier League when he achieved the milestone in just 14 balls. Now his name is record with KL Rahul.
KKR captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and asked MI to bat first on the fresh pitch with the boom on offer at the MCA Stadium. Purple Cap holder Umesh Yadav struck in his second over to dismiss Rohit Sharma, while Devald Brevis, who made his IPL debut with 29 off 19 balls, was sent back by Varun Chakravarthy.
Ishan Kishan had a tough time in the middle and was dismissed for 14 off 21 balls by Pat Cummins, but Suryakumar Yadav (52) opened the innings and his 83-run stand with Tikal Verma struck for Kieron Pollard. The stage was set, which exploded. 3 sixes off Pat Cummins in the final over gave MI a competitive score of 161 for 5 in their 20 overs.
Rahane left early
KKR have taken their batting approach to attack at all costs but on Wednesday, Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer were on guard against Basil Thampi and Daniel Sams while chasing a target of 162 runs. While Thampi conceded just 8 runs in his first spell of 2 overs. Sams conceded 6 runs in an over. The KKR opener was also careful with just 2 runs in his first over against Jasprit Bumrah.
By the time Tymal Mills came to bowl his first over, the asking rate pressure on KKR was mounting. Rahane, who had scored only 7, pulled a short ball from Mills straight to Sams at deep midwicket. That dismissal put KKR captain Shreyas Iyer in the middle with Venkatesh Iyer.
Rohit Fail
Rohit Sharma has a great record against Kolkata Knight Riders. On Wednesday, Mumbai Indians would have expected their captain to bring up their A game as the team sought their first win of IPL 2022, but that was not to be the case. After struggling in the first two overs, Rohit pulled out a wrongful Umesh Yadav and was caught smartly by KKR wicketkeeper Sam Billings. Rohit’s poor innings scored only 3 runs as Umesh Yadav, leading the race for the Purple Cap, widened the gap between himself and Yuzvendra Chahal and Avesh Khan.
baby abby shines
Dewald Brevis has built his game on his icon and fellow South African AB de Villiers. ABD was an integral part of Royal Challengers Bangalore for many years and produced some of the most breathtaking innings in the Indian Premier League. On Wednesday, Brevis was handed the debut as Tim David was dropped. Brevis’ reputation preceded him – he was the leading run-scorer in the Under-19 World Cup. Against KKR, he did no harm to his reputation, scoring 29 off 19 balls before being done by Varun Chakravarthy.
Ishaan Sangharsh
Ishan Kishan held the Orange Cap for a while and is still second to Jos Buttler in the Orange Cap list, but on Wednesday, the Mumbai Indians opener needed to find some sort of momentum against KKR’s bowling line-up. not found Ishaan saw his captain Rohit Sharma fall to Umesh Yadav and Dewald Brevis got off to a thrilling start. But Ishan, usually a free-flowing batsman, couldn’t get his timing right as MI scraped for runs. Suryakumar Yadav, coming back and was not off to a good start after an injury and MI were in trouble when Ishan’s painful stay at the crease was ended by Pat Cummins.
Tilak, Battle of the Sun
Suryakumar Yadav didn’t start well after his return from injury, but slowly he found his time in the company of Tilak Verma, who declared himself in the IPL with the first half-century against Rajasthan Royals. The two came together at a time when MI were in trouble, but they pulled the team out of trouble with an 83-run stand. As Suryakumar Yadav started finding gaps, Tilak continued where he left off against RR.
Suryakumar fell to Pat Cummins for 52 off 36 balls in the last over of the MI innings, but his innings and Tilak’s fireworks gave Mumbai Indians something to bowl to against KKR’s batting line-up.
Pollard explosion
Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma give Kieron Pollard the perfect platform to explode. Batting at No. 5, Pollard hit Pat Cummins for 3 sixes and finished off an unbeaten 22 balls. MI made 161 for 4 in the 20th over with 23 for 4, which overall seemed out of reach for 55 for 3 in 11 overs.