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Mumbai Indians (MI) came from seemingly nowhere to register a spectacular 10-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the fifth match of IPL 2021 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
In a chase of 153, KKR were cruising at 72 for no loss in the ninth over when leg-spinner Rahul Chahar turned the match around for MI.
An aggressive Shubman Gill decided not let the MI spinner settle. He pulled one behind square for a four and clubbed a six wide of long-on. However, Chahar had his revenge last ball, having the KKR opener caught at long-off with a slightly quicker and fuller one.
Chahar kept MI’s hopes alive by having Rahul Tripathi (5) caught behind with one that ripped away after pitching. He had a third when KKR captain Eoin Morgan’s poor run with the bat continued. The left-hander holed out to deep midwicket after dancing down the track.
At the other end, Nitish Rana (57) got his second consecutive fifty. He seemed to be taking KKR home when Chahar got him off the last ball of his spell. Rana inexplicably danced down the track and was beaten all ends up, as Chahar slipped one through quicker. The leg-spinner finished with excellent figures of 4 for 27.
KKR made matters worse for themselves when Shakib Al Hasan perished for nine, slogging Krunal Pandya straight up in the air. With the pressure building, Andre Russell provided two chances to MI. Krunal Pandya dropped Russell off his own bowling, while Jasprit Burmah couldn’t hold on to a skier.
Bumrah, however, bowled a spectacular penultimate over with wide slower balls, conceding only four, as Russell and Dinesh Karthik struggled.
With 15 needed off the last over. MI left-arm pacer Trent Boult deceived Russell off the third ball, as a leading edge was chipped straight back to the bowler. Next ball, Pat Cummins was cleaned up with a yorker as KKR choked sensationally, and MI walked away with the honours.
Earlier, the in-form Nitish Rana got KKR’s chase off to a great start by driving the first ball from Boult through covers for four. In Boult’s next over, he stepped out and lashed the left-arm seamer for a maximum in the same region.
With no pressure, KKR eased their way to 45 at the end of the powerplay overs. Marco Jansen bowled the sixth over, but Shubman Gill helped himself to three fours. He smacked an off-cutter over mid-on and pulled a short one to deep square before clubbing the third one past the bowler.
When MI introduced Kieron Pollard, Rana swung him to deep midwicket for a maximum. He then dispatched a length ball over cover for another four. Everything seemed to be going as per plan until Chahar turned the tide in MI’s favour.
Andre Russell claims five in two overs as MI fold up for 152
KKR all-rounder Andre Russell picked up five wickets in two overs as Mumbai Indians collapsed from 125 for 5 to 152 all out after being sent into bat.
Russell was introduced into the attack as late as the 18th over but had enough time to polish off the latter half of the MI batting line-up. Going round the wicket, he first dismissed fellow West Indian Kieron Pollard for five with a full and wide delivery outside off that was edged behind the stumps. Marco Jansen became his second when he guided a length ball to sweeper cover.
Coming on to bowl the last over, Russell was hit for a couple of boundaries as Krunal Pandya threw his bat around. However, the KKR medium-pacer soon had his revenge when he had the left-hander caught at short fine leg with a slow short ball.
Jasprit Bumrah attacked Russell first ball but only managed to pull one straight to deep midwicket. Russell completed a quick five-for when Rahul Chahar slogged a length ball to long-on.
Russell’s five-for is now the joint-quickest five-wicket haul in IPL history. Ishant Sharma had also claimed five wickets in two overs for Deccan Chargers against Kochi Tuskers Kerela in April 2011.
Even before Russell’s sensational spell for KKR, MI were struggling with the bat. In fact, barring Suryakumar Yadav (56 off 36), no other MI batsman could come to terms with the sluggish Chepauk track.
Quinton de Kock (2), who replaced Chris Lynn, perished to Varun Chakravarthy, mistiming the bowler straight up in the air. Yadav then came in and got into the groove right away. With KKR off-spinner Harbhajan Singh bowling in the powerplay overs, Yadav found the gaps with ease to pick up three fours in an over.
When Prasidh Krishna came on to bowl, Yadav whipped him to deep midwicket for a maximum. The next two balls also went for fours - the first driven through the off-side and the second edged to third man.
The highlight of Yadav’s innings was a whip of KKR’s lead pacer Pat Cummins onto the roof on the leg-side boundary to bring up his fifty. Once he perished to Shakib Al Hasan for 56, attempting another big one, it was all KKR, though.
Ishan Kishan (1) was outfoxed by a smart short ball from Cummins, which the left-hander guided straight to fine leg.
The MI captain Rohit Sharma hung around for 43 but never looked fluent. He eventually chopped an off-cutter from Cummins onto his stumps. Krishna had the sluggish Hardik Pandya (15 off 17) caught off a slower ball.
After that, it was the Russell show for KKR, which spelled disaster for MI. But KKR would themselves commit hara-kiri with the bat later in the game.
IPL 2021: KKR vs MI - Man of the Match
There were many brilliant performances during the match which produced some thrilling cricket. Andre Russell was spectacular, claiming five wickets in two overs to scythe through the MI middle and lower. Pat Cummins also excelled with 2 for 24.
Suryakumar Yadav batted wonderfully for MI. His 56 was worth its weight in gold, in hindsight. When KKR batted, Nitish Rana once again showed his class with his half-century. Until he was at the crease, KKR were in firm control.
But it was MI leg-spinner Rahul Chahar who made the biggest impact of them all. When the match seemed to have slipped out of MI’s grasp, Chahar kept finding the wickets with some smart bowling and variations. Eventually, it was his performance that gave the Mumbai Indians some much-needed momentum.
Rahul Chahar was named the Man of the Match for his game-changing effort.
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