Kolkata Knight Riders stay afloat in the race to the playoffs.
Against a Mumbai Indians side strengthened by the return of regular captain Hardik Pandya as well as Suryakumar Yadav, the Knight Riders’ bowlers laid the platform on a tricky Eden Gardens pitch to help the hosts register a four-wicket victory with seven balls to spare late on Wednesday night.
The Knight Riders are now sixth in the standings with 13 points. Before their final league match against Delhi Capitals at the Eden on Sunday evening, they would certainly want Punjab Kings to lose to Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday and for Mumbai to win their afternoon match against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.
That way, a straightaway win over the Capitals will take the Knight Riders through to the playoffs. However, had they taken fewer overs to overhaul Mumbai’s 147/8, the three-time champions would have been in a better position in net run rate too.
With the consistent Angkrish Raghuvanshi concussed out — following a collision with Varun Chakraravarty and a dropped catch earlier — the Knights were under pressure at 54/3 in the eighth over due to poor shots from captain Ajinkya Rahane and Cameron Green. A comical lack of communication between Deepak Chahar and Robin Minz at the deep gave Rovman Powell a lucky reprieve in the 10th over.
Powell cashed in on that reprieve, with Manish Pandey, playing his first innings in this edition, steady at the other end. The duo forged 64 for the fourth wicket which took them to a position of safety before another mini-wobble following their dismissals kept the KKR dugout tensed.
Rinku Singh ensured there wasn’t any further botch-up, hittng the winning boundary.
The pitch wasn’t too easy for strokeplay, but if not for the top order’s poor shot selection, Powell could have afforded to be a little more aggressive, which would have bettered KKR’s run rate.
Proper lengths
Over 40,000 had turned up on a weekday, hoping to see something special from the likes of Team India players Rohit, Surya and Hardik. Barring Hardik — returning to the XI after three games — to an extent, Rohit and Surya flattered to deceive.
Right through, the Mumbai batters had a hard time adjusting to the surface, till Corbin Bosch unleashed back-to-back sixes and a four in the final over of their innings bowled by Kartik Tyagi, taking the visitors closer to the 150-run mark. Before that, left-arm quick Saurabh Dubey accounted for both Rohit and Surya, while Green dismissed Naman Dhir and Ryan Rickelton.
A spell of downpour around 8.15pm had held play up for an hour, yet the KKR bowlers’ rhythm remained intact. For that, a lot of credit goes to Sunil Narine, who bamboozled both Hardik and Tilak Varma with his set of variations. He then zipped one in to clean up Hardik and peg the visitors back further, being spot-on with his length.
