In the 56th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated Mumbai Indians (MI) by 52 runs at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and asked KKR to bat first. The opening pair did a wonderful job for KKR as both the batsmen put up over 50 runs for the first wicket partnership. This was the first time that KKR’s openers didn’t lose a wicket in the powerplay and also scored a fifty in it. The major contribution came from Venkatesh Iyer (43) who was making his comeback after missing out on a few games due to his bad form. Iyer was looking in good touch as was scoring boundaries for fun. Along with Iyer, Nitish Rana (43) also helped the Kolkata based team to put up an above par score but eventually lost his wicket to Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah in his second spell created havoc at the DY Patil as he plucked four wickets in the death which totally ruined KKR’s plan of posting a big target for MI. In the end, Rinku Singh (23*) was the only batter who survived the storm and helped KKR reach just 167/9 in 20 overs.
In the chase, Mumbai Indians had a slow but steady start in the second innings as Ishan Kishan (51) got a fifty. The left-handed batsman was playing the anchor’s knock but wasn’t really getting the needful help from the other end. Tim David (13) looked dangerous as he smashed three boundaries consecutively but lost his wicket in the next over to Venkatesh Iyer. In the end, Kieron Pollard (15) was the only hope for MI fans but the target was just too much to get. The five-time winners of the IPL were restricted to just 113 runs in 17.3 overs.
It was a team effort in the second innings for KKR as almost all bowlers contributed to restricting MI to a low total. Pat Cummins grabbed three wickets in his quota of four overs. Andre Russell also took two important wickets and along with him, Tim Southee and Varun Chakaravarthy also plucked one wicket each.
Jasprit Bumrah was the star of the evening as he bowled his best spell in the history of IPL. The right-arm fast bowler scalped a fifer which pulled the game completely from KKR in the death overs. Along with Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya also plucked two wickets. Murugan Ashwin and Daniel Sams also managed to get one wicket each.
Even though KKR won the match, the game will be remembered for Jasprit Bumrah. For his top-class performance with the ball, Bumrah was awarded the Man of the Match. With this win, KKR are still in the race to qualify for the playoffs as they are now seventh on the table with 10 points.
Scorecard:
Kolkata Knight Riders: 165/9, Overs 20, Venkatesh Iyer 43, Jasprit Bumrah 5/10
Mumbai Indians: 117/10, Overs 17.3, Ishan Kishan 51, Pat Cummins 3/22