Trust KKR to turn a one-sided easy win into a defeat. If you take 40 overs into consideration, KKR won 35 overs! However, the last five overs of the match is where Mumbai Indians came back and took the game away from KKR. A walk in the park was converted into a horrific batting display.
After being put in to bat by Eoin Morgan, Mumbai got off to a shaky start with de Kock holding out to Tripathi off a Varun Charavarty ball. After de Kock departed for 2, it was up to Rohit Sharma and Surya Kumar Yadav to steady the Mumbai ship.
It’s very difficult to keep a superstar like Andre Russell out of action for too long. The flamboyant West Indian showed why KKR values his all-around contribution. Dre Russ finished with one of the best spells in the history of IPL. He ended his quota of 4 overs taking 5 wickets and giving away just 15 runs!
At one time, both the batsmen were going at a phenomenal pace and it looked like Mumbai is set to score well in excess of 200. The Hitman scored a well-thought-out 43 off 32 balls. Suryakumar Yadav scored a power-packed 56 off 36 balls with 2 sixes and 7 fours.
However, no other Mumbai batsman was able to capitalize on the start given by Yadav and Rohit Sharma. MI kept losing wickets at regular intervals with fie MI batsman scoring less than double digits. Apart from Prasidh Krishna, every other KKR bowler returned with economic spells.
An absolute thriller of a game here at The Chepauk. @mipaltan win by 10 runs to register their first win of #VIVOIPL 2021 season.
Scorecard – https://t.co/CIOV3NuFXY #KKRvMI #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/PJzQL2HPbJ
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 13, 2021
KKR could not have asked for a better start with Nitish Rana and Shubhman Gill caressing Mumbai bowlers like Bumrah and Boult all over the park. Boundaries were coming at will and both the KKR openers never looked in any trouble.
The introduction of Rahul Chahar into the spell bought Mumbai back into the game. Gill held out at Mid-Off after scoring a 6 and a 4 in the same over. The youngster needs to learn to take his bat through the innings especially after getting promising starts. Nitish Rana seems to have taken his promotion as an opener very seriously. This was his 4th century in just 7 innings as an opener.
The stylish left-hander looked comfortable facing both pace and spin. However, at the other end, KKR kept losing wickets. Tripathy and Morgan were quick to depart in quick succession. KKR seemed to implode with some of the best batsmen in the world seemingly giving away their wickets.
In the last five overs, KKR needed to score 31 runs, an easy chase. However, with their batsmen making a meal of things, the match got interesting. Mumbai Indians came back strongly with Bumrah and Krunal Pandya putting on the squeeze. While Rahul Chahar bringing back MI into the game, it was up to Trent Boult to defend 15 runs off the final over of the KKR innings.
Trent Boult, a world-class bowler removed Dre Russ after miserable innings. He finished off Pat Cummins with one ball. Mumbai grasped victory from the jaws of defeat and showing just why they are the best team in the IPL. MI winning the match in the end by 10 runs.
