It was indeed a pleasure for MI fans to watch them thrashing KKR by massive 102 runs in Eden Garden Kolkata.
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But the real star of the show for the visitors was 19-year-old left-hander Ishan Kishan, who smashed 62 off 21 balls with five fours and six sixes which propelled Mumbai to 6-210. Chris Lynn (21) and Nitish Rana (21) were the top-scorers as Mumbai effected two run outs with Pandya brothers Krunal (2/12) and Hardik (2/16) returning best figures.
Mumbai were powered by Ishan Kishan’s blazing half-century before their bowlers applied an age-old tactic of bowling short to dismember the KKR batting line-up. No matter what Kolkata do, they end up being on the losing side against MI more often than not and this game was no different. With the partnership broken, Chawla got his second wicket in the very next over as Yadav (36 off 32) was caught by Rinku Singh at deep mid-wicket to slow down the Mumbai charge. “Also for Ben Cutting to come out and finish on a high, he hasn’t got a lot of opportunities, but he backed himself to do that”, said MI’s skipper Rohit Sharma after the match.
Karthik added that the wicket was good for batting and 190 was a par score. The likes of Prasidh Krishna, Tom Curran, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav were punished heavily, with Yadav bearing most of the brunt.
Rohit and Kishan stepped up on the run rate, especially the left-handed Kishan who hit the ball around the park.
He was far from the only Mumbai player to clear the ropes – they hit 14 sixes in total, including a one-handed slice from Hardik Pandya in the 18th over.
Dinesh Karthik credited Ishan Kishan’s blitz for taking the game away from Kolkata.
KKR were never in the game as they lost wickets at regular intervals to be reduced to 67 for six inside the first 10 overs.
Piyush Chawla was the pick of the bowlers by bagging 3 wickets for 48 runs.
MI, who are now in fourth position in the points table, take on struggling Rajasthan Royals next at home.
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MI completed the shellacking and won by 102 runs. The bulk of Mumbai’s runs – 148 – came from boundaries. Moreover, he was not given an opportunity to bowl as well and the run-out of Karthik is not enough to rate him.
