Kolkata Knight Riders beat Mumbai Indians by a big margin of 52 runs to register their fifth win of the season, but that is going to change little about the fact that they are already out of the race to the playoffs.
Batting first, the Knight Riders put up 165 runs on the board but with the way they started the innings, it seemed that they would get a total in excess of 200.
Venkatesh Iyer was brought back to the playing XI and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands, scoring 43 off 24 at a strike rate of almost 180. Nitish Rana also scored 43 at a strike rate of 165. By the 13th over, KKR had already amassed 120 runs. But from there on, wickets fell in quick succession as Jasprit Bumrah wreaked havoc. Bumrah picked up five wickets for merely 10 runs in his four overs which also won him the Player of the Match award in a losing cause.
Eventually KKR managed 165 in 20 overs which they defended on the back of a combined bowling effort. This was the first game in which both Pat Cummins and Tim Southee played together. Cummins picked up three wickets while Southee chipped in with one. Andre Russell also picked up two wickets.
Apart from Ishan Kishan’s half century, no other Mumbai batsman could get going as they eventually lost the game by 52 runs. This is the ninth loss for Mumbai this season, the most by any team in a single edition of the IPL.
