IPL 2021, MI vs KKR: Who won yesterday's match?

A supremely confident Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) hammered the Mumbai Indians (MI) by seven wickets in Match 34 of the 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

MI went into the clash with the psychological edge, having defeated KKR in 22 of the 28 meetings between the two teams. But it was a different Kolkata they came face-to-face against on Thursday. KKR outsmarted MI in all departments on the day and the end result was a fair reflection of how things panned out.

After winning the toss and bowling first, KKR restricted MI to 155 for 6, courtesy of an efficient bowling effort. Venkatesh Iyer (53 off 30) and Rahul Tripathi (74 not out off 42) then pummeled the MI bowlers into submission. KKR eased past the target in 15.1 overs.

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KKR got off to a scintillating start in their chase of 156 as they raced to 63 for 1 at the end of the powerplay. At the halfway stage of IPL 2021, when they were struggling, KKR coach Brendon McCullum conceded that the franchise might look to change things around. The decision to open with Venkatesh Iyer has certainly worked wonders so far. His success has emboldened Shubman Gill as well.

KKR began their chase by taking two sixes off Trent Boult in the first over. Gill walked down and flicked the MI left-arm pacer nonchalantly over deep square leg. Iyer then pulled one off the front foot in the same region. More boundaries came in the second over, bowled by Adam Milne. Iyer swung a six over short fine leg and chipped a four between cover point and cover. A streaky four off the last ball saw KKR reach 30 for no loss after two overs.

Gill and Iyer got a boundary each off Jasprit Bumrah as well, but MI’s lead pacer broke the stand to provide the bowling side with some much-needed relief. Bumrah cleaned up Gill (13) with an offcutter that the KKR opener chopped on to the stumps. The entertaining opening stand was worth 40 in three overs.

The runs kept flowing for KKR, though, as Rahul Tripathi joined Iyer. Both helped themselves to a six each off left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya. Iyer cleared the ropes at deep midwicket in the seventh over while Tripathi hammered one over long-on to start the ninth over. In between, Rahul Chahar also went for a couple of fours in his first over. The 10th over bowler by Bumrah went for 14, including five wides off a bouncer. That pretty much summed up MI’s day.

Iyer brought up his fifty off only 25 balls, the fastest for a KKR batter vs Mumbai. Tripathi then raised his half-century off 29 balls, albeit in rather streaky fashion. He tried to paddle a yorker-length delivery, but got a leading edge and the ball went to third man and touched the boundary skirting on the full, teasing Krunal’s outstretched arms.

A slower ball from Bumrah ended Iyer’s brilliance but Tripathi carried on having fun. KKR skipper Eoin Morgan fell for 7, but Tripathi was at the other end when Nitish Rana hit the winning four off Rohit Sharma’s bowling.

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Impressive KKR restrict MI to 155 for 6 on challenging surface

KKR put up a clinical bowling effort to keep MI to 155 for 6 after they won the toss and bowled first. On a tricky batting surface, where the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat, MI raced away to 80 for 1 at the end of 10 overs. However, once KKR’s bowlers began taking the pace off the ball, most of the MI batters failed to time the ball.

MI openers Quinton de Kock (55 off 42) and Rohit Sharma (33 off 30) added 78 for the opening wicket. But once the duo was separated, KKR’s bowlers held the upper hand till the end of the innings. Varun Chakravarthy (0/22) and Sunil Narine (0/22) conceded under six an over, while Lockie Ferguson stood out with figures of 2 for 27. But for his last over that went for 18, Prasidh Krishna (2/43) also had a good game.

KKR sprang a surprise by opening the bowling with part-time off-spinner Nitish Rana. It was exactly what Rohit needed on comeback as he crunched the first ball past mid-off for four. Rohit and de Kock dominated proceedings in the first half of MI’s innings. In his first over, Sunil Narine was pulled to deep midwicket by Rohit while de Kock reverse-swept him for four.

The fourth over, bowled by Chakravarthy, began with Rohit hitting consecutive boundaries - the first ball was lofted over mid-off and the second swept to fine leg. De Kock then clobbered three sixes in the space of two overs, one off Ferguson and two off Krishna, as MI ended the powerplay at 56 for no loss.

KKR introduced Andre Russell in the ninth over this time, and he was welcomed by De Kock with two cracking fours. After creaming one through extra cover, the left-hander almost knocked down his skipper, smashing the next ball over Rohit, who had to take evasive action.

The much-needed breakthrough for KKR came in the 10th over when Rohit fell to Narine, unable to clear long-on with his attempted big hit. More than a wicket, it was a momentum breaker for MI. Suryakumar Yadav (5) was caught behind off Krishna, getting a leading edge as he attempted an expansive shot.

De Kock perished soon after his fifty, mistiming a slower ball from Krishna to midwicket. Ishan Kishan (14) then toe-ended a pull off Ferguson. Krishna bowled a poor last over, though, to give the MI innings some momentum.

The 18th over bowled by him, which included a no ball and two wides, was taken for 18. Kieron Pollard (21 off 15) launched a six over deep midwicket and edged a four to fine leg. Two wickets fell in the last over bowled by Ferguson, the only consolation for MI being that they crossed 150.

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IPL 2021, MI vs KKR: Who was the Man of the Match?

Tripathi was brilliant for KKR, smashing eight fours and three sixes in his unbeaten 74 off 42 balls. It was Venkatesh Iyer who started the big-hitting carnage, and ended up slamming 53 in 30 balls. This was the southpaw's maiden IPL fifty in only his second game.

Earlier, Lockie Ferguson impressed with the ball, claiming 2 for 27. He dismissed Ishan Kishan and Krunal Pandya. Krishna (2 for 43) proved expensive in the end analysis but got the major scalps of De Kock and Suryakumar. Sunil Narine (1 for 20) also kept things extremely tight.

For MI, De Kock’s 55 was the only significant performance. Bumrah claimed three but they were consolation scalps. Narine was named the Man of the Match for his economical spell.