Navi Mumbai, May 9: Jasprit Bumrah’s sensational 5/10 including 18 point balls was instrumental in the Mumbai Indians restricting Kolkata Knight Riders to 165/9 in 20 overs at DY Patil Stadium on Monday.
For Kolkata, Venkatesh Iyer perished early, but not before leading the team to their first 50+ power-play position with a 24-ball 43, while Nitish Rana made the same score from 26 balls.
But Bumrah stopped Kolkata’s fast and furious run, starting by taking out Andre Russell with a short ball, which he could only send long distance. Three balls later, Bumrah dispatched a well-placed Nitish Rana with a rebounder who took the edge of the glove to the keeper. The right-arm pacer returned in the 18th, claiming Sheldon Jackson with a short ball that was thrown to the deep, square leg.
Bumrah then welcomed Pat Cummins with a bouncer and took him out on the next ball with an awkward short ball caught safely square leg. Sunil Narine tried to fend off a short ball from Bumrah, only for the pitcher to run in and catch the follow-up. Bumrah finished the innings conceding just one run in the final to push Mumbai back in the match.
Earlier, back in the opening eleven of play, Venkatesh began by dispatching Murugan Ashwin on a deep square leg back for six, followed by drilling a drive into googly coverage. His partner, Ajinkya Rahane, was cool as he foured Bumrah with a cut point.
Venkatesh made his intentions to maximize the power play clear, going downfield and cutting Riley Meredith on point. He was followed by him shuffling and rolling a six on a skinny leg. Venkatesh then raised Kolkata’s fifty by getting an outside edge past Kumar Kartikeya Singh’s third man and then pulled out a slow sweep to hit a clean six into the middle of the deep wicket.
But Kartikeya had the last laugh as Venkatesh went for another slog, only to the top edge to cover the point. Rana hit the ground running with a creamy drive over cover to finish the power play on a high.
Rahane advanced with some limits, but an uncharacteristic reverse sweep from Kartikeya saw him lose the stump of his leg. Rana made sure Rahane’s knockdown didn’t hurt Kolkata, hitting six in a row on the ground to top Kolkata’s hundred in 11 overs.
Rana liked Kieron Pollard’s middling pace and welcomed it with an inside-out loft over extra coverage for six. The southpaw took a four and another six, through extra and deeper coverage in the middle of the wicket, respectively, to take 17 runs from the other side.
Although Ashwin eliminated Shreyas Iyer with a broken leg that gave the keeper a small advantage, Rana and Andre Russell took four and six respectively from the leg spin to finish with 13 runs. But Bumrah came along and broke Kolkata’s batting back, restricting them to a much lower total than the men in purple expected.
Short scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 165/9 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 43, Nitish Rana 43, Jasprit Bumrah 5/10, Kumar Kartikeya Singh 2/32) vs Mumbai Indians