Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) managed to choke in a fairly straightforward run chase against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Tuesday. KKR had control of the game for the majority of the evening as they opted to field after winning the toss.
Despite a collapse late in the innings, Mumbai Indians managed to get past 150 and set up a target of 153 for KKR. The chase started smoothly for KKR as Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana scored fluently beyond powerplay overs. However, KKR lost complete control of the game after the 15th over due to some terrific bowling display by Mumbai Indians and fell short by ten runs.
Bowlers shine on slow track in Chennai
The track in Chennai continued to help spin bowlers during the clash between Mumbai Indians and KKR. Rahul Chahar stole the show by taking four crucial wickets for MI to halt KKR’s momentum in the chase. His wickets made sure that game went into the final five overs of the innings.
On the other hand, spinners also shone for KKR. They managed to put a brake to the scoring rate during powerplay overs that allowed pace bowlers to do damage at the end of the innings. Andre Russell benefited from the pressure created by spinners as he managed to take five wickets in his two overs at the death.
KKR middle-order has to show consistency
It was another failure for KKR’s middle order as they fail to consolidate in the middle of the innings for the second game in a row. Eoin Morgan, Shakib Al Hasan, and Andre Russell played some poor shots, handing MI a route back into the game. At one point, the asking rate was slightly above six runs per over, but poor batting from KKR’s middle order made it a difficult task going into the final couple of overs. KKR will need batsmen to take more responsibility in the middle if they want to go deep in IPL 2021.
Trent Boult shows composure under pressure
In the final over of the game, Trent Boult maintained composure and took two wickets when the KKR needed 15 runs in the last over. The wickets of Russell and Pat Cummins on the third and fourth ball meant that Dinesh Karthik was stranded at the other end. The Kiwi bowler used his experience to navigate this difficult over.
Boult has been generally expensive at the death in IPL, which makes the effort on Tuesday even more special. Mumbai will be hoping that the Kiwi fast bowler will emulate this calm and composed bowling in the majority of games in IPL 2021.