JOIN USMumbai outclass Kolkata
It was touted to be a blockbuster. But the Qualifier 2 clash of the Indian Premier League Season-10 between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders turned out to be a damp squib here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.
After they paid price for their ordinary batting effort against Rising Pune Supergiant in Qualifier 1, Mumbai contested with more purpose and vigour to trounce Kolkata by six wickets and storm into the final. In the summit tie in Hyderabad on Sunday, Rohit Sharma’s men will eye a third title when they face Pune, in what will be a repeat of the Qualifier 1.
Put into bat on a challenging surface, Kolkata batsmen produced a shoddy performance to be bundled out for a paltry 107. The fact that the Knight Riders were more familiar with the conditions compared to their opponents made the collapse more surprising.
If not for the fighting 56-run stand between Suryakumar Yadav (31) and Ishank Jaggi (28), Kolkata would have found it hard to even reach the 100-run mark.
Karn Sharma (4/16), with his best performance of the season, led Mumbai’s authoritative bowling performance. By not offering any leeway to the batsmen with their disciplined show, the pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah (3/7) and Mitchell Johnson (2/28) also played a key role in Mumbai’s victory.
With not much to defend, Kolkata had to make a big impact in the Powerplay and Piyush Chawla rose to the challenge by picking two quick wickets (2/34).
With their top three batsmen back in the hut by the sixth over, Mumbai batting need sanity and the duo of Rohit Sharma (26) and Krunal Pandya (45 n.o.) provided just that. Joining hands at 34/3, the duo approached the chase in a composed manner and their 54-run alliance helped Mumbai knock down the target in 14.3 overs.
Studded with eight fours, Krunal once again proved his all-round abilities while Karn, preferred ahead of the experienced Harbhajan Singh, justified his selection and was adjudged the man of the match.
Earlier, the Mumbai bowlers didn’t put a foot wrong and had openers Chris Lynn (4) and Sunil Narine (10) in all-sorts of trouble. The opening pair, known for their power-hitting, had a disappointing night and Robin Uthappa’s cheap dismissal put Kolkata in trouble.
Slow pace
At 25/3, Kolkata looked up to their skipper for a revival in their innings but the in-form skipper held out to deep mid-wicket while attempting a slog of Karn in the sixth over. The leg-break bowler then set up a hat-trick ball when he trapped Colin de Grandhomme in front (0) in the very next delivery.
Though Kolkata denied Karn a hat-trick, their innings moved in a painfully slow pace and at half-waystage they were reeling at 43/5.
The Knight Riders got a move on when Suryakumar slammed a flat six off Krunal Pandya in the 11th over and the Mumbaikar slammed two fours in Krunal’s next over. Malinga too was hit for a couple of boundaries and Kolkata looked good to post a fighting total.
However, Karn was in the thick of the action again when he had Jaggi caught at long on in the 15th over and the Kolkata tail didn’t wag long.
Scoreboard
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Chris Lynn c Pollard b Bumrah 4 (8b), Sunil Narine st Parthiv b Karn 10 (10b, 1x6), Gautam Gambhir c Hardik b Karn 12 (15b, 2x4), Robin Uthappa lbw Bumrah 1 (3b), Ishank Jaggi c Johnson b Karn 28 (31b, 3x4), Collin de Grandhomme lbw Karn 0 (1b), Suryakumar Yadav c Malinga b Bumrah 31 (25b, 2x4, 1x6), Piyush Chawla c Rayudu b Johnson 2 (6b), Nathan Coulter-Nile c Hardik b Johnson 6 (4b, 1x6), Umesh Yadav (not out) 2 (3b), Ankit Rajpoot b Malinga 4 (7b, 1x4). Extras (LB-3, W-4) 7. Total (all out, 18.5 overs) 107.
Fall of wickets: 1-5 (Lynn), 2-24 (Narine), 3-25 (Uthappa), 4-31 (Gambhir), 5-31 (de Grandhomm’e), 6-87 (Jaggi), 7-94 (Chawla), 8-100 (Coulter-Nile), 9-101 (Suryakumar).
Bowling: Mitchell Johnson 4-0-28-2 (w-2), Jasprit Bumrah 3-1-7-3, Lasith Malinga 3.5-0-24-1, Karn Sharma 4-0-16-4, Krunal Pandya 3-0-25-0 (w-1), Hardik Pandya 1-0-4-0.
MUMBAI INDIANS: Lendl Simmons lbw Chawla 3 (6b), Parthiv Patel c Uthappa b Umesh 14 (9b, 3x4), Ambati Rayudu b Chawla 6 (11b), Rohit Sharma c Rajpoot b Coulter-Nile 26 (24b, 1x4, 1x6), Krunal Pandya (not out) 45 (30b, 8x4), Kieron Pollard (not out) 9 (7b, 1x4). Extras (LB-4, W-4) 8. Total (for 4 wkts, 14.3 overs) 111.
Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Simmons), 2-24 (Parthiv), 3-34 (Rayudu), 4-88 (Rayudu).
Bowling: Umesh Yadav 2.3-0-23-1 (w-1), Piyush Chawla 4-0-34-2 (w-1), Nathan Coulter-Nile 3-0-15-1, Sunil Narine 4-0-21-0, Ankit Rajpoot 1-0-14-0 (w-2).