Luck favours Mumbai Indians against Kolkata Knight Riders in crunch IPL 2018 match

Mumbai Indians (MI) were in a precarious situation when they took the field on Sunday against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), needing to win all their remaining games to stay in playoff contention in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. (HIGHLIGHTS)

While the toss did not go in their favour, MI had their fair share of luck throughout the game, which they eventually won by 11 runs against a strong KKR outfit. (SCORECARD)

KKR’s decision to use as many as five bowlers in the powerplay, opting for the inexperienced pacer Prasidh Krishna instead of in-form options in Andre Russell (2-0-12-2) and Mitchell Johnson (3-0-25-0) for the final over and Sunil Narine’s illness were factors that played into Mumbai Indians’ hands.

Mumbai Indians batsmen collected 11 runs from the final over by Prasidh Krishna. Hardik Pandya hit two fours to finish on 35 not out off 20 balls, pushing Mumbai’s total to 181/4.

KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik defended his decision to not call upon Russell or Johnson for the final over, after suffering a 13-run defeat. “We have a certain role for Russell in the team. At what stage of the game he bowls… on this day he bowled well but on other days he goes for boundaries. Over a period of days we have figured how to get the best out of him,” Karthik said.

READ | IPL 2018: Mumbai Indians stay alive with 13-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders

To make matters worse, Sunil Narine went off the field during the death overs in the Mumbai Indians innings and did not open for KKR. The promotion of Shubman Gill, who had been impressive in the middle-order, also did not work out for the visiting side at the Wankhede Stadium.

“He was not feeling well, that’s why he went off the field in the 18th-19th over,” Karthik said.

Mumbai withstood an 84-run stand for the third wicket between Robin Uthappa (54) and Nitish Rana (31) to clinch their fourth win in 10 matches, despite giving a lifeline to the former when on four.

The teams now head to Eden Gardens for their second meeting on Wednesday, with KKR looking to make amends.