Nitish Rana’s innings brought Mumbai Indians back into the match. (Source: IPL)
The match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians turned out to be an absolute thriller and like all such cricket matches, it was one that looked to go both ways at several points of the game. We managed to bring it down to five turning points and here they are:
1. Chris Lynn’s dismissal
And we could maybe add Gautam Gambhir’s name beside him but Lynn was the man who started the carnage against the Gujarat Lions in KKR opening fixture. Judging by the kind of form he is in, KKR looked capable of putting a 200-plus total when he was around. But he couldn’t get going in a similar manner this time around. Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa were dismissed before he went down to Jasprit Bumrah.
2. Manish Pandey’s last over charge
Manish Pandey proved to be Mr. Dependable for KKR. While wickets fell all around him, he remained strong and deagged his side forward. The only time he looked to take risks, though was when he faced the final over of KKR’s innings bowled by Mitchell McClenaghan. Those risks paid off and he ended up smashing 23 runs off that over and that took his side’s total to 178/7, which didn’t look like a total they could get to at one point.
3. The wickets of Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler
Openers Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler got Mumbai Indians off to a strong start. It was important for Mumbai to keep their wickets and these two gave them the perfect platform to do so as they put up an opening partnership of 65 runs. Parthiv was the first to go off Kuldeep Yadav and Jos Buttler followed in the very next over bowled by debutant Ankit Rajpoot. Although it didn’t seem so at the time, Mumbai’s struggles that came later proved that these were crucial wickets
4. The Rohit Sharma stinker
There have been a few questionable decisions already taken by the umpires this season but this one takes the cake. The umpire declared the Mumbai Indian captain out off Sunil Narine and the replays showed that there was a big inside edge. Rohit’s reacted angrily before accepting his fate and slowly walking off. This was followed closely by Kieron Pollard’s wicket and it looked like the wicket may have cost Mumbai the match.
5. Nitish Rana, Hardik Pandya and KKR’s 20th over slopiness
Nitish Rana turned out to be the unlikely hero for Mumbai Indians scoring a half century and taking vital runs in the death overs. His work was continued by Hardik Pandya whose heroics cost KKR 19 runs in the penultimate over. Mumbai Indians needed 11 runs off the last over. This is the time when teams tend to get tight on the field and Kolkata were anything but. The first blow was when Suryakumar Yadav let one slip right through his hands and the ball ran away for four. The second was when Rishi Dhawan, who came on as a substitute for captain Gautam Gambhir dropped a sitter from Hardik Pandya. The latter didn’t need any more help in finishing it off in the second-last ball
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