IPL 2021: Kolkata Knight Riders Choke Big Time, Mumbai Indians Snatch Win From Jaws of Defeat

Mumbai Indians snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to keep their dominance over Kolkata Knight Riders intact in the IPL 2021 game at Chennai on Tuesday. KKR needed 31 needed off 31 with seven wickets in hand at one stage but choked big time as Mumbai got off the mark this year.

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From that position, Nitish Rana and Shakib Al Hasan threw their wickets. And then, Andre Russell (9 off 15) and Dinesh Karthik (8* off 11) struggled to find the boundary as Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult did the job for MI. Krunal Pandya finished an incredible spell of 1 for 13 in 4 overs, while Rahul Chahar had wrecked the KKR top order with four wickets.

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KKR were chasing only 153 and seemed on course for a majority of the game, before the choke happened.

Andre Russell’s five-wicket haul in just two overs (5/15) helped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) restrict Mumbai Indians’ (MI) power-packed batting to 152 (all out) in their 20 overs

KKR’s chase started on a solid note with Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill adding 72 for the opening wicket within nine overs. Rana continued his form from the previous game against SRH, while Gill got his lovely touch going.

Gill’s exit, though, triggered a wobble. Gill fell looking to attack Rahul Chahar, giving a catch to long off one ball after hitting a six. Soon, Rahul Tripathi was caught behind to a ball that turned big. Morgan settled in and then perished looking to attack Chahar, caught in the deep. Rana, meanwhile, went past his half-century.

The equation was well in favour of KKR, when Rana threw it away. He charged down the track in Rahul Chahar’s last ball and was stumped. Another poor and needless shot from Shakib Al Hasan saw him lose his wicket to Krunal Pandya, caught in the deep.

Suddenly, the equation was 30 off 25, which could have been worse had Krunal not dropped Russell, on 0, off his own bowling. In Krunal’s next over, with 21 needed off 16, Bumrah dropped a high catch from Russell.

With Russell struggling, the equation was 19 off 12 with Bumrah to bowl. Bumrah bowled a tremendous penultimate over conceding only 4 runs, leaving 15 to get off the last over.

Boult had Russell caught and bowled, and then rattled Pat Cummins’ stumps even as Karthik was stranded at the non striker’s end.

Earlier, KKR began well with the ball, with Varun Chakravarthy dismissing Quinton de Kock in the second over. However, Suryakumar Yadav extended his superb form with stupendous strokeplay, smashing 56 off 36 in a counter attack. KKR bowled five overs in the Power Play and tied down MI, but Suryakumar got his eye in. MI managed only 42 for 1 in the Power Play.

Suryakumar then took on Prasidh Krishna and Pat Cummins after the Power Play, reaching his fifty with an incredible 99 metre whip that went out of the stadium.

However, his dismissal off the bowling of Shakib Al Hasan in the 11th over when MI were coasting at 86/1 triggered a collapse. MI soon lost Ishan Kishan who was dismissed by Pat Cummins in the 12th over and a few overs later, Rohit Sharma was bowled by a slower ball from the Australian.

Rohit, who shared a 76-run second-wicket partnership with Yadav, made 43 off 32 balls.

The famed MI middle-and-lower order batting, which has plenty of hard-hitters, failed to get going. Soon after Rohit’s dismissal, MI lost the wickets of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard in the space of one over. South African Marco Jansen’s dismissal left MI at 126/7 after 18 overs.

Russell hadn’t bowled till the 17th over but still managed a five-for. He got rid of Kieron Pollard (5) and Marco Jansen (0) and in his second over, innings’ last, he picked three wickets — Krunal Pandya (15), Jasprit Bumrah (0) and Rahul Chahar (8).

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• Andre Russell
• IPL 2021
• kkr vs mi
• Nitish Rana
• Pat Cummins
• Rahul Chahar