New Delhi: Ishan Kishan scored 58 off just 25 balls to set the stage to chase 186 against Kolkata Knight Riders. Coming back in form, Suryakumar Yadav scored 43 off 25 while Venkatesh Iyer’s cracking century could not get the desired results for KKR. It was a collective batting effort from MI as they completed the chase with 14 balls remaining.
Despite Iyer’s ton, KKR could not reach a great total on this track and it rained boundaries when they came to bowl as the bowlers could not restrict the flow of runs.
MI batters got a great start as Rohit Sharma returned as Impact Player after missing the play in the first inning. Ishan Kishan started off at his top gear and Rohit also contributed 20 off 13 before getting out to Suyash Sharma as Umesh Yadav picked a great catch. Kishan did his job with a quick fifty, hitting five fours and five sixes, before getting bowled by Varun Chakravarthy.
In-form Tilak Varma batted with SKY, who returned back in touch at his home ground. They had a 60-run stand in six overs where Suryakumar was the aggressor and Tilak played an anchor role with 30 off 25. Tim David was the one who ended the affairs with his 24* off 13.
Similar to MI’s bowling, KKR’s spinners could only restrict some runs and pick wickets. Youngster Suyash Sharma ended up with 2 for 27 and Chakravarthy picked one important wicket. Shardul Thakur and Lockie Ferguson also got one consolation wicket each in the end.
In the first inning, Venkatesh Iyer scored 101 off 54 and carried the team on his back. With no other prominent contributions, KKR just got 21* off 11 by Andre Russell in the end. Piyush Chawla showed his experience and class to end with the figures of 19/1 while Hrithik Shokeen picked two wickets for MI. Cameron Green, Duan Jensen and Riley Meredith went for runs but contributed a wicket each to restrict KKR to 185.
While the game was full of fun with fours and sixes raining, there was more drama to it. Shokeen gave a send-off to Nitish Rana after dismissing him for 5(10), which escalated and Suryakumar and Piyush Chawla had to interfere to cool down things.
Suryakumar was the skipper for MI as Rohit could not play in the first inning due to a stomach bug. Arjun Tendulkar got his debut and he gave 17 runs in the two overs he bowled.
