Rohit Sharma looked exhausted in the end. Instead of depositing a full-toss onto the stands, he could only hit to long-on fielder. That said a thing or two about the physical state of the players, who still appear rusty thanks to the five months spent indoors during pandemic.
But even more glaring was the time both teams took to finish the match. Mumbai Indians innings alone lasted more than two hours — 125 minutes to be precise. And by the time Rahul Chahar sent down the last ball of the match, it was four hours and nine minutes since the first ball was bowled. It is something the match officials should keep an eye on considering there are no heat breaks allowed in the playing conditions.
Rohit has always enjoyed batting against Kolkata Knight Riders. And that trend continued in Abu Dhabi as he smacked a 54-ball 80 as the four-time champions reached 195/5. In the process, the 33-year-old created the record for most runs against an IPL team with 904 runs.
That was not the only record the opener broke as the sixes he struck in his knock ensured that he became only the fourth to hit over 200 sixes in the IPL. In reply, Kolkata were no match for the four-time champions as they lost the match by a huge margin of 49 runs. This is MI’s first win in UAE in seven attempts.
Earlier, it was not the best of starts from the defending champions as they lost Quinton de Kock for a solitary run in the second over off Shivam Mavi. Former Kolkata recruit Suryakumar Yadav walked in and instantly put the pressure right back on Dinesh Karthik’s men. He gave his skipper the platform to play without fear as they kept punishing the loose deliveries. Brief scores: MI 195/5 (Rohit 80, Suryakumar 47) bt KKR 146/9 (Cummins 33, Pattinson 2/25).