IPL 10, Match 7, Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders - 5 Tracking Points

The iconic Wankhede Stadium at Mumbai was drenched in the sea of blue as the Mumbai Indians played their first home game of the season. They hosted the Kolkata Knight Riders in a crucial encounter. Coming in to the match, the Knight Riders were the clear favorites as they had thumped the Gujarat Lions in their previous match.

On the other hand, the Mumbai Indians came in to the game after having suffered a defeat at the hands of the Rising Pune Supergiant. The Mumbai Indians won the toss and opted to bowl first. The Knight Riders started with a decent base set up by Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn. However, they could not replicate their heroics of the previous game. Also, the wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals during the match.

A well compiled unbeaten 81 off 47 balls from Manish Pandey kept the innings intact to see KKR post 178/7 in their 20 overs. The run chase for Mumbai began in fine fashion with Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler added a fifty plus run opening stand. The middle order struggled but Nitish Rana kept the hopes going. Towards the end, Hardik Pandya provided the late hitting to see Mumbai Indians home by 4 wickets.

Here are the 5 Tracking Points from the MIvKKR encounter:

1. Knight Riders fumble with the bat

The batting of Kolkata Knight Riders was the talk of the talk in the previous match. Their openers, Chris Lynn and Gautam Gambhir, had stitched an unbeaten 184 run stand to ensure a 10 wicket win for them. Playing against Mumbai, they started on the same not but could not hold on for long. Gambhir perished after scoring 19 (13) in the 5th over. In walked Robin Uthappa but lasted just 3 deliveries before holing out in the deep after scoring 4.

Yusuf Pathan had a bad day at the office too as he could score just 6 off the 11 balls that he faced. Suryakumar Yadav struggled for his 17 runs and Chris Woakes’ first outing with the bat in the IPL yielded just 9 runs. Sunil Narine was sent packing on 1 on the last ball of the innings. All in all, barring Manish Pandey, no KKR batsman could cross the 35 run mark in the match.

2. Manish Pandey plays the lone warrior

The innings of Kolkata Knight Riders seemed to be heading to a dim verge. Had their not been Manish Pandey’s resilience, they would have crashed to a low total for sure. Pandey came in to bat at number 4 at the dismissal of Robin Uthappa. He soon saw the set batsman Chris Lynn depart from the other end as well. A couple of overs later, Yusuf walked back to the pavilion and the cavalcade continued.

Pandey, though, ensured that he kept the run flow ticking and hit the odd boundary every now and then. Towards the end of the innings, he started the acceleration and raced past his fifty. In the last over bowled by Mitch McClenaghan, Pandey took a heavy toll of 23 runs to help KKR post 178. He remained unbeaten on 81 off 47 balls with 5 fours and 5 sixes to his name.

3. Mumbai Indians get a decent start

The openers of MI put on a decent stand at the top order to put the hosts in command for the run chase. Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler ensured that they saw the new ball through from the swing bowlers Trent Boult and Chris Woakes. While Parthiv was more reserved in his approach, Buttler hit the odd boundaries early on.

Later on, they swapped roles and that worked well for them. They added 65 runs for the first wicket in 45 deliveries.  Both openers departed in space of 7 balls and that did not help their cause. Parthiv was the first to depart as he scored 30 off 27 balls with 3 fours and a six. Buttler scored 28 off 22 balls with a four and a couple of sixes.

4. Middle order woes continue for MI

When the openers were going great guns, things looked really pleasing for the Mumbai team. However, with both of them departing in quick succession, the team felt the heat all of a sudden. Kolkata Knight Riders pounced on the opportunity to create more pressure on them. Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma’s poor form continued as he could score only 2 runs before being trapped lbw by Sunil Narine.

The middle order collapse was rather predictable with an unsettled balance for the hosts. Krunal Pandya walked in at number 5 and hit two boundaries first up. He then threw it away after having scored 11 off 6 balls. Kieron Pollard had a tough day the office as well as his string of low scores do not seem to have an end. He scored a run-a-ball 17 before falling to a Chris Woakes delivery.

5. Rana, Pandya win it for MI

As the wickets of the Mumbai Indians middle order kept tumbling, there was one man who held the fort from one end. Nitish Rana was promoted ahead of Rohit Sharma in the match as he walked in to bat at number three. He played exceptionally well to justify the move. He played the anchor knock to see that Mumbai kept getting closer to the target. He eventually perished in the penultimate over soon after registering his fifty. His 50 came off just 29 deliveries with 5 fours and 3 maximums.

However, the man who won the match for Mumbai along with him was Hardik Pandya. Pandya and Rana took special liking to the pacers of KKR. They clobbered Trent Boult for a couple of sixes and a four in the 18th over. They did the same to Ankit Rajpoot in the 19th over taking as many as 19 runs. With 11 needed off the final over, Pandya made a mockery of Boult yet again to see Mumbai win by 4 wickets with a ball to spare. He remained unbeaten on 29 off mere 11 deliveries with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Meanwhile, Boutl leaked 47 runs in his 3.5 overs with an economy of 12.26.