Kolkata Knight Riders started off their 2021 IPL campaign with a victory and Mumbai Indians lost their first game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Both the teams are known for their fighting spirit till the last ball of the game and a match between them is always a treat for the cricket fans. We have been seeing almost every team taking the decision of bowling first once they win the toss in this IPL and it was the turn of the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan to make that decision by putting the Mumbai Indians to bat first after winning the toss.
The clash between the rivals was hosted by Chepauk Stadium, Chennai and both teams are desperate to build a stable momentum for their campaigns. As the Knight Riders took the ball, Rohit's fleet took the crease with Rohit and Quinton de Kock opening the innings. Kock carried more expectations on him as he returned to the field after the episode of quarantine. However, Mumbai Indians witnessed a shocking opening as the South African batsman went back to the pavilion early.
It was Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav who did the rescue scoring 43 and 56 runs respectively. Once they got out, the Mumbai Indians lost their touch and were losing wickets at a regular interval. It was apparently displayed that they had lost control over the match. None of their star batsmen including Pandya and Pollard could make any impact on their scoreboard. The biggest surprise package until that point was the spell of Andre Russell. He came to bowl only towards the end for 2 overs and ended up with a fifer by picking up quick wickets. Russell has got a five-wicket haul for 15 runs in two overs, which could be his best bowling figure in IPL. Russel's rampage knocked out the Mumbai Indians and they were all out for 152 runs in their 20 overs.
Only when you have unexpected twists and turns, you can call it an IPL match. 153 should have been a very easy target for the KKR. Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill provided a very good opening partnership of 72 runs, leaving the fans to bet for a lenient chase. However, the Knight Riders were losing wickets on the other end by keeping the pressure on Nitish Rana to hold the match. Rana's campaign gave a good chase and got out after a brilliant half-century.
It was Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell who were in a position to finish the game for the KKR. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for the Mumbai Indians, they struggled like anything to get in contact with the ball. The KKR at once required just 31 runs from 30 balls with 6 wickets in hand. Would you believe that they eventually lost the match by 10 runs? All credits to the blockbuster bowling performance from Bumrah and Boult at the death overs, they did. It was an unimaginable collapse for the KKR and the MI fans are back on energy with their first victory in the series.
It was surely a match to put up in the store of surprises and twists. While the batting line-up of Mumbai Indians stumbled, Rohit had held a stronghold in its bowling unit and made sure that they still keep their dominance on the Knight Riders. Finally, the predictions have come true. It was predicted that the Knight Riders would have to face a real challenge from the bowling unit of Mumbai Indians and it was what exactly happened in the match. With a thrilling victory, Mumbai Indians had registered 22nd victory against the Knight Riders in the head-to-head matches of 28.
Mumbai's Rahul Chahar was named as the Player of the Match for his brilliant spell. After conceding a defeat, KKR's Skipper Eoin Morgan had expressed his disappointment and said that his team has made mistakes. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Morgan said, "Yeah, it's disappointing. A lot of the time we played good cricket, certainly the first half and a majority of the chase. We made mistakes, hopefully, we can iron them out. Mumbai (Indians) are a very good side".
"I think the perfect game is to be able to do both and we have managed to do neither in the end. It works for us a majority of the time, but we need to be better. The games that have been played here, would suggest that there's a trend of run-scoring getting tough at the end. Mumbai have been performing like this for a long time, that would be something we need to assess", Morgan added.
Winning captain Rohit Sharma said, "It was an excellent fightback by each one of them. You don't see a game like this often. We will take lots of confidence from this game as we move forward. KKR batted brilliantly in the powerplay. Rahul (Chahar) came and got us crucial wickets in the middle. Krunal (Pandya) bowling those overs at the end was vital as well. It was a complete team effort and credit to all the bowlers. As batters, you need to carry on. The trend in Chennai is you can't hit from ball one and you have to plan before you go into bat."
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