The penultimate match of the IPL 2024 season between the Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders is underway. Rain delayed the start of the match, which went on for almost two hours. When Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bowl first, he chose the team that defeated SRH.
In order to become the first team to qualify for the playoffs, Kolkata Knight Riders entered the game needing to win. Nitish Rana took Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s spot on the home team, making just one alteration. The left-handed hitter was making his comeback to the team following an injury that limited his playing time to just one game this year.
Powerplay: Mandatory: 45/3, Overs 0.1 to 5.
Despite Venkatesh Iyer’s impressive batting performance, the Mumbai Indians bowling team was too strong for any of the other hitters to contend with. Before succumbing to Nuwan Thushara, Phil Salt smacked the opening ball of the game for a six. The next two wickets that Anshul Kamboj and Jasprit Bumrah took further worried the hosts.
50 runs in 5.4 overs for Kolkata Knight Riders
Venkatesh Iyer didn’t let it stop him from scoring runs quickly, even if wickets fell at one end. In the sixth over of the rain-shortened match, KKR reached the fifty-run mark thanks to a four from Hardik Pandya.
Kolkata Knight Riders: 61/3 after 7 overs is the first strategic time-out.
Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer contributed 21 runs after the third wicket fell, demonstrating their ability to control the loss of wickets. Anshul Kamboj once more displayed his skill with the ball by crucially removing Shreyas Iyer, the KKR captain.
Also read: When KKR vs. MI in IPL 2024, why isn’t Angkrish Raghuvanshi participating?
100 runs from 10.2 overs for Kolkata Knight Riders
Taking wicket of Venkatesh Iyer for 42, Piyush Chawla made his debut with the ball. With solid help from Nitish Rana, Andre Russell was able to take the MI bowlers to task from the off and push the score beyond 100 runs.
Kolkata Knight Riders: 125/6 from 13 overs after the second strategic time-out
The Mumbai Indians’ spinners and fielders were excellent, keeping the KKR hitters under strict control. While Piyush Chawla bowled more quickly and took the important wicket of Andre Russell for 24 runs off 14 balls, Tilak Varma produced an incredible throw to run out Nitish Rana.
Kolkata Knight Riders finish the innings with a 157/7 total after 16 overs.
In order to get the KKR team near the 160-mark, former Mumbai Indians player Ramandeep Singh swung the final ball for a six. Considering the strength of the host team’s bat, the Mumbai Indians spinners did a good job holding KKR to 157.
India
