SCOREKEEPER | POINTS TABLE | ACCESSORIES
MI has now struck KKR 21 times out of 27, and this win, with 19 balls to spare, has to be the most complete of those victories. With their sixth victory in eight games, the defending champions are back at number one on the table.
In a clinical show, Mumbai showed no mercy, as they completely outmatched the Knight Riders, who clearly seemed baffled by their top spinner Sunil Narine’s denunciation of throwing himself, and then a change of the captaincy baton from Dinesh Karthik to Eoin Morgan just hours before a key game.
After a magnificent comeback from Pat Cummins (53 not out, 36b, 5×3, 2×6) and new skipper Eoin Morgan (39, 29b, 2×6, 2×4), he went through the baptism of fire in his IPL Captaincy debut, rescued the Knight Riders from 61-for-5 in the 11th to a respectable 148-for-5, MI came out with all their guns in pursuit.
Banned for outpacing a Cummins easy skier when he was 36, de Kock launched his third half century in IPL 2020, leaving an unfortunate KKR attack running for cover. In a significant difference between the teams, while the Knights seemed hesitant early on before Cummins broke the shackles, MI shot to a fiery start when De Kock and Captain Rohit Sharma (36, 36b, 5×4, 1×6) added 94 on 63 balls for the first wicket. In the end, Hardik Pandya broke two fours and a six for Cummins to show what makes MI virtually undefeated this time.
A six shot, followed by a classic drive through additional coverage from Prasidh stood out amid the many delicious shots played by de Kock, who is enjoying his best IPL season this time around.
Although he played the best innings of his career in the T20, Pat Cummins was unable to continue his heroics on the ball. Often rated the world’s number one pitcher, the Australian fast pitcher ace has failed to lead the attack by example, managing just two terrains in eight games.
Before, KKR kept sliding into a deep hole after choosing to hit first. Rahul Tripathi was caught brilliantly by Suryakumar Yadav at a late spot in front of Trent Boult, while Nitish Rana was caught behind while trying to hook Coulter-Nile.
Rahul Chahar then jumped into action, firing Shubhman Gill and Karthik for consecutive balls in the eighth over.
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