IPL 2018, KKR vs MI: 5 unnoticed things from the game

In one of the most followed IPL rivalries over the years, Kolkata Knight Riders were hosting Mumbai Indians at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. In a must-win game for the visitors, Kolkata won the toss and asked MI to put some runs on the board.

It was a call that proved too costly for the home team as the visitors blazed their way to a mammoth total of 210 runs. It was courtesy Ishan Kishan, who stroked a 17-ball fifty, fastest for his franchise in this year’s IPL.

Chasing a mountain-like total, Kolkata always found themselves short of the target as the pressure to up the ante got better of each of their batsmen. It was eventually a hard loss to gulp for the KKR fans as the home team crumbled to 108 to hand the visitors a comfortable victory by 102 runs.

Let’s take a look at some of the things that went unnoticed:

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#1 Suryakumar gets to his 400 runs in this season

This has been a splendid season for the Mumbai lad, who has led his side’s batting prowess in the entire season. He has blossomed at the top of the order, along with Evin Lewis, as the duo has provided some great starts to lay the foundation for some mammoth totals.

Yadav, for the first time in the history of the league, got to his individual 400 runs in a single season. In the previous seasons for Kolkata, Surya Kumar didn’t get enough opportunity to bat up the order but the Mumbaikar was given ample amount of opportunities to muster runs at the top for the men in blue.

#2 Rohit Sharma has most runs against Kolkata in IPL history

Rohit Sharma has always loved playing against the men in Purple. His love for the Eden gardens, KKR’s home ground adds to this fact, as he now becomes the highest run grosser against Kolkata in the history of the league.

He has now registered 757 runs against KKR, which is most by any batsmen against the men from the city of joy. He surpassed his teammate at Indian team, Suresh Raina to achieve this feat. In his innings of 36, Rohit didn’t look much comfortable but still held the innings nicely to let the likes of Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya fire from the other end.

#3 Tom Curran’s controversial no-ball

In a high-intensity game where Mumbai was going all guns blazing at the Kolkata bowlers, even umpires seemed to get carried away as they restored to give some wrong decisions. It was the 16th over of the Mumbai innings when one of the on-field umpires gave a bizarre decision to call one of the legal delivery as a no-ball.

The drama unfolded as Tom Curran, who didn’t overstep at that particular delivery, was penalized to bowl an extra ball. However, Hardik Pandya failed to connect the free hit but it was yet another evidence of some poor umpiring shows in this IPL.

Curran landed cleanly in his delivery stride as his leg slid after landing, but the umpire saw it as an overstepped call. KKR even wanted to go for the review but umpires denied their appeal.

#4 Evin Lewis gets out in a bizarre fashion

Mumbai Indians were going berserk in the powerplay before Piyush Chawla gave his side the first breakthrough of the night. It was the ultimate over of the powerplay when Chawla was lucky to get rid of dangerous-looking Evin Lewis.

He was dismissed in one of the most peculiar ways on a delivery that was pitched short and was asking to be hit. He tried to heave it over the mid-wicket region but missed it by miles before edging it from the back of his bat.

The Southpaw looked absolutely gutted with his fortunes as he was caught by Chris Lynn, standing at the short-third man to dismiss him for a 13-ball 18, before he could well unleash the Caribbean power in him.

#5 KKR succumb to an eighth consecutive loss against Mumbai

It was a much disappointing effort from the Kolkata boys as they succumbed to a humiliating defeat to the men in blues, and it's their eighth consecutive loss against the reigning champions. The home team was completely dismantled in a one-sided affair leaving them in all sorts of trouble going ahead in the business end of the tournament.

Kolkata has found it really hard to get past against the Mumbai Indians in all these years at IPL. It was their 18th loss in 23 matches played so far between the two franchises in a span of 11 years. Since 2015, Kolkata has never managed to beat them as men in blue continue to win this battle against the Knight Riders.

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