Mumbai Indians handed Kolkata Knight Riders yet another loss in the meeting between the two sides in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 at the Wankhede stadium. With this win, MI continued their dominance over Knights. They are also alive in the tournament and now need to win their next four in order to progress to the playoffs.
In pursuit of 182 runs in 20 overs, KKR could not mount the challenge to get to the target. The pressure kept creeping up for the Knights as Dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten 36 runs weren’t enough in the end. Mumbai Indians registered its 2nd victory on the trot and a fourth overall to race to eight points.
Will this go on to be another similar story for MI, who always seem to peak at a time like these and string in a series of performances? The task is difficult though as they now need to win four on the trot, but wins such as these give immense confidence. Rohit Sharma will be thinking to go one match at a time and take it as it comes.
For KKR their inconsistency continued and after winning two games successively, they could not get a third. The two teams meet once again in a few days and KKR needs to win that at the Eden Gardens.
STAT ATTACK
- In the 22 overall meetings between the two teams, Mumbai Indians have now won an emphatic 17 with KKR sealing 5.
- At the Wankhede out of eight encounters, it has been total domination by MI with seven victories.
- With this win, the hosts have also won their last seven matches against the Knights.
- Four of MI bowlers are in top 10 in the highest wicket-takers list. They have a combined 49.
Uthappa, DK strikes not enough
For KKR they needed to bat long and smartly and Robin Uthappa showed his character once again and looked sharp in the chase. A 35-ball 54 was a stylish Uthappa innings as he was going along smoothly. He added a superb 82 runs with Nitish Rana for the third wicket as KKR gained ascendancy. But once Uthappa departed, the KKR batting started to lose the momentum.
That has been the problem with Robin. He has not been able to cover these runs into more significant numbers. KKR needed him to bat till the end. His wicket opened the gates as Rana fell three runs later. From there on the task for Dinesh Karthik got very difficult.
He tried his best once again to finish the innings but ran out of time. In the process, DK crossed the 300-run mark for KKR and is the highest run-scorer for the side.
MI bowlers on top once again
They have been on top of their game for MI and have kept Rohit Sharma’s men in the hunt. After Sunrisers Hyderabad if any team has gone the distance with their bowling, then it has to be Mumbai. Yes, MI do not have the victories in the bag, but their bowlers have taken them to close positions.
Sunday was their day to finally defend a good-looking score posted by the batsmen. What bodes well for MI is that four of their bowlers are in great form. Hardik Pandya has reached 14 wickets and is the Purple Cap holder. Jasprit Burmah and Mitchell McClenaghan have 22 wickets between them.
Burmah’s bowling against DK was an act of gold. Time and time again he is proving to be the desired T20 bowler, on the top of his game and understands what is he doing. Mayank Markande (13 wickets) picked the crucial scalp of Robin which in turn changed the game. That period of play ended as the winning moment.
Suryakumar in form of his life
This has clearly got to be Suryakumar in the form of his life. 399 runs in 10 matches and pushing for the Orange Cap, the batsman has made the most of his new lease of life as an opener. The former KKR player stood to the task once again and scored his fourth fifty of IPL 2018. His 39-ball 59 set MI for the score that they got in the end. Along with Evin Lewis the duo added 91 runs for the first wicket in just 9.2 overs.
One over after the other Surya got the desired runs and kept ticking along targeting bowlers at will. His innings was laced with seven fours and two sixes.