As Jasprit Bumrah’s fiery spell restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to 164/9 at the DY Patil stadium on Saturday, momentum was with Mumbai Indians. But such has been their batting performances this season that one wasn’t sure how it was going to go down. And Rohit Sharma did not even last one ever as he was adjudged caught behind off Tim Southee for two runs from six balls.
Ishan Kishan kept it going for Mumbai in the next three overs as they were 26 for one after four. In came, Andre Russell, who was undone by a Jasprit Bumrah masterclass in the first innings, and bowled the hard lengths right away, taking a leaf out of the Mumbai pacer’s book. He reaped rewards immediately, removing Tilak Varma cheaply. With Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy choking the run rate, Mumbai were stuttering at 66 for two at the halfway mark.
Russell came back and delivered Ramandeep Singh’s wicket off yet another back of length delivery. Tim David hit the next three balls for boundaries, but KKR had found a working template from what they saw off Bumrah earlier. Hard lengths at the body till the batter perishes.
As Varun removed the dangerous David, Mumbai were down to 100/4, but they still had hope with Kieron Pollard and Kishan in the middle. But they were about to receive what Bumrah had served in the first innings. And this time, it was Pat Cummins who took three wickets in an over, all off short-pitched deliveries, sending Kishan, Daniel Sams and Murugan Ashwin packing. MI had gone down to 102 for seven in a span of six deliveries. Pollard hung around but without much success but that wasn’t enough as MI fell short by 52 runs.
Earlier, when Shreyas said they had five changes in the playing XI, the key one among them was the return of Venkatesh Iyer, who was dropped after a string of poor scores. And, the southpaw did not take any time to show what he is capable of, taking on Ashwin with a massive six over deep midwicket. Venkatesh hit Kumar Kartikeya Singh for 12 runs in three balls, the spinner had the last laugh, bagging his wicket for 43 runs. Ajinkya Rahane got out shortly after, but Rana kept it going for them at the other end.
Kolkata Knight Riders were 136/3 after 14 overs. Andre Russell had joined Rana in the middle after Shreyas’ dismissal. With Russell on strike, Rohit duly brought back Bumrah. It was the blockbuster match-up of the match. The best batter against the best bowler. But it did not last long. Just two deliveries to be precise. First ball, yorker on the crease and Russell just managed to dig it out. The second was a short-pitched delivery that rose to Russell’s shoulder. He tried to hit it across the line only to sky it and Kieron Pollard completed the rest. It was pure Bumrah masterclass. But it was just the beginning of something special from the pacer.
A triple-wicket maiden followed as Bumrah removed Rana, Cummins and Narine in the same over. KKR had lost five wickets, all to Bumrah, for just 20 runs. While Rinku’s unbeaten 13-ball 22 took them to 164/9, Bumrah registered his first five-wicket haul in the IPL, finishing with the best figures of the season — 5/10. In the end, even that wasn’t enough to save Mumbai.
Brief scores: KKR 164/9 in 20 overs (Venkatesh 43; Bumrah 5/10) bt MI 113/10 in 17.3 ovs (Kishan 51; Cummins 3/22).