Mumbai Indians seem to have found the number of the Kolkata Knight Riders as they once again defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by a huge margin of eight wickets with 19 balls remaining in the 32nd match of the Indian Premier League 2020. The game in Abu Dhabi had come under the limelight way before its started thanks to all the controversy built around the change team’s leadership from Dinesh Karthik to Eoin Morgan.
In the match though, the outside changes didn’t turn any fortunes for the Kolkata-based side as they lost two in two big games. Morgan decided to bat first after winning the toss didn’t help the team’s cause as wickets fell at regular intervals to make things worse for the team. Had it not been for Pat Cummins and his blistering knock at the end of KKR innings in Abu Dhabi, chances were that the match would have ended way earlier than it did.
If Cummins was a bright spot for Kolkata, Rahul Chahar and Quinton de Kock stood out for the Mumbai Indians. On that note, let’s look at the Hits and Flops of the game.
While many thought that the match was heading for a thriller, especially after the way KKR finished with the bat and also because of the past reputation KKR had made this season by defending low scores. But the South African captain had other ideas as he went into the attack mode right from the word go.
De Kock made 78* off 44 balls with nine fours and three sixes at the strike rate of more than 177. He made sure that no chance of reprieve was given to the KKR at any moment. For his efforts and contributions, he was rightfully adjudged Man of the Match.
The Mumbai Indians seem to be building towards its perfect team as more and more youngsters are producing match-winning performances. Rahul Chahar is one of those youngsters. When the leggie came to bowl in, he not only took wickets but stemmed the flow of runs of the opposition, building even more pressure on the batsmen.
It was this ploy of his that made him bowl excellently as can be seen from the figure of 2/18 in his quota of four overs. The two wickets that Chahal took were off consecutive deliveries as he got Shubman Gill caught in the deep while Dinesh Karthik got out LBW.
Although from the losing team and he did give away runs during his bowling, it is Pat Cummins with the first fifty of his IPL career saved the KKR innings. Coming to bat at a time when all big guns of the team had returned to the pavilion, Pat Cummins showed splendid courage to take all the blowers to the cleaners. In his innings of 53 runs off 36 balls, there were two sixes and five fours.
From struggling at 61/5 in 10.4 overs to getting up to 148 in the next 9.2 overs was courtesy of the 87 runs partnership between Morgan and Cummins in which Cummins was the aggressor.
In the news due to handing over his captaincy terms to Eoin Morgan, Karthik looked like a lost cause. Instead of firing on all cylinders, Karthik looked hesitant on the ground. It reflected in his batting too as the former KKR captain could only manage to hit one four of the eight deliveries he faced.
The intent was lacking and so was the fire. It is exactly the right time for Karthik to show it to the people that he deserved to remain captain of the team.
Senior cricket journalist Boria Majumdar pointed how Russell has not been able to win even a single game for the KKR this season with his bat and how he was playing only on his reputation. Today also he played without any proper plan or approach and got out of just 12 from 9 balls. In the bowling department too, he wasn’t able to do much and gave away 15 runs from two overs without picking any wicket.
While KKR would battle it out against Sunrisers Hyderabad to save their campaign in their next game, Mumbai would take on Kings XI Punjab to seal their positions in the playoff phase.
Powered by Froala Editor