MUMBAI: Riding on a brilliant start from Ishan Kishan’s blistering half-century, Mumbai Indians beat Venkatesh Iyer’s record century to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by five wickets with 14 balls to spare here on Sunday. Easy wicket win. Iyer scored 104 off 51 balls which included six fours and nine sixes. Brendon McCullum scored 158 runs while playing for KKR in the first match of IPL in 2008. After this, in the last 15 years, no KKR batsman could reach triple digits.
Iyer finally succeeded in busting that myth. With the help of his innings, KKR made a challenging score of 185 runs for six wickets. Ishaan Kishan (58 off 25 balls, five fours, five sixes) and Rohit (20 off 13 balls) got Mumbai off to a blazing start by adding 65 runs for the first wicket. Returning to form, stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav (43 off 25 balls, four fours, three sixes) and Tilak Verma (30 off 25 balls) shared a 60-run partnership for the third wicket.
Tim David remained unbeaten on 24 off 13 balls as Mumbai posted 186 for five in 17.4 overs. This is Mumbai’s second win in four matches while KKR suffered their third defeat in five matches. Rohit missed the toss due to a stomach upset but later opened the innings for Mumbai as an impact player.
Kishan started in an aggressive manner. He hit two fours and a six in the second over of Shardul Thakur’s innings while hitting Umesh Yadav for a four and a six. In this over of Umesh, Rohit also sent a ball for a six. He also hit Suyash Sharma (2 for 27) for a six but this leg-spinner showed the way to the pavilion in the same over. Umesh races in from mid-off and takes an excellent one-handed catch.
Meanwhile, Kishan welcomed Sunil Narine (41 runs in three overs) with two sixes and a four. Due to this, Mumbai was able to score 72 runs for one wicket in the power play. The left-handed batsman completed his half-century off 21 balls with a four off Suyash. After this, he also hit Varun Chakraborty (1 for 38) for a six but the next ball hit his pads and went into the wicket. Suryakumar, who has been struggling to score runs for some time, was initially cautious but later opened his hands by hitting Lockie Ferguson for two consecutive sixes.
Meanwhile, Tilak Verma played some good shots from the other end which kept Mumbai’s run pace going. Suryakumar hit Andre Russell for a six and a four to reduce the required run rate to six. Tilak was bowled by Suyash but Tim David, who came in his place, did not miss Varun by hitting two sixes in the next over. Thakur did not allow Suryakumar to complete his half-century but by then it was too late.
Electing to bat first after losing the toss, KKR’s batting revolved around Venkatesh, who did not allow the Mumbai bowlers to dominate despite the lack of support from the other side by showing a brilliant example of his power-hitting. Mumbai gave Arjun Tendulkar (0/17 in two overs) an opportunity to make his IPL debut and then opened the bowling with the left-arm seamer. However, it was Cameron Green (1/20 in two overs) who gave Mumbai their first breakthrough by dismissing Narayan Jagadishan (0) in the second over of the innings itself. Second opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (8) also returned to the pavilion in the power play itself, while captain Nitish Rana (5) also could not last long. Meanwhile, Venkatesh’s bat kept spewing runs. He started by hitting Arjun for a four and a six and then sent Green’s ball for six runs.
He welcomed Duane Janson (1/53) with two sixes, the second of which took KKR past 50. Venkatesh hit Ritik Shokeen (2/34) for a four and completed his fifty off only 23 balls and then shared a 50-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Shardul Thakur. Thakur’s contribution in this was 13 runs. Meanwhile, Venkatesh hit Riley Meredith (1 for 40) for two consecutive sixes. He reached 90 runs by hitting a six on this bowler.
He completed the first century of his career in 49 balls by taking a single off Yanson. Immediately after completing his century, he was caught by Meredith at short third man. Janson took his first wicket in the IPL in the form of Rinku Singh (18). The Mumbai bowlers did not allow him to play freely. Andre Russell remained unbeaten on 21 off 11 balls with the help of three fours and a six. Mumbai spinners Shokeen and Piyush Chawla (1/19) bowled well in the middle overs.
