PTI photo.
Mumbai: In a “walk-in-the-park” chase against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Mumbai Indians (MI) made their second victory this season at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium Sunday afternoon. In the match, driven by Ishan Kishan’s half-ton as well as Suryakumar Yadav bouncing back to form, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun Tendulkar also debuted.
KKR lost it completely on the day though Venkatesh Iyer made a brilliant hundred (104 off 51 deliveries). The meritorious hundred, however, did not reflect in the KKR total of 185/6 after other batters struggled to stay on the pitch. For MI, Hrithik Shokeen claimed 2-34 while Piyush Chawla was at his economical best for 1-19 in four overs, keeping KKR at bay.
Winning the toss, Suryakumar Yadav led MI and sent KKR to bat first.
When batters fell one-by-one on one side, Iyer focussed on his own duty. He went berserk with six boundaries and nine sixes. He got to his half-century in 23 balls and completed his century in 49 balls. He actually made a big mistake trying for a reverse scoop, a pretty cheap way for him to get out at such a stage.
It was Andre Russel who remained unbeaten with 21 from 11 balls and took the team to a fair score in the end.
After Ishan Kishan hammered 58 off 25 balls, hitting five boundaries and as many sixes, and Suryakumar smacked a 43 off 25, Tilak Varma scored 30 off 25, taking Mumbai to victory with 14 balls to spare. As said earlier, KKR bowlers made it a “walk-in-the-park” chase for MI.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 185/6 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 104, Andre Russell 21 not out; Hrithik Shokeen 2-34, Piyush Chawla 1-19) lost to Mumbai Indians 186/5 in 17.4 overs (Ishan Kishan 58, Suryakumar Yadav 43, Tilak Varma 30; Sjuyash Sharma 2-27) by 5 wickets.