New Delhi: A gutsy maiden IPL fifty from Venkatesh Iyer (30-ball 53) and a superb fiery knock from his partner-in-crime Rahul Tripathi (42-ball 74) helped Kolkata Knight Riders chase down the target of 156 runs in just 15.1 overs. With a clinical win over defending champions Mumbai, Kolkata have kept their hopes of reaching the playoffs alive as they jump into the top four in IPL 2021 Points Table! A special mention to Kolkata bowlers as they did pretty well to pull themselves back into the game after a solid 78-run opening stand between Rohit and Quinton de Kock and choked Mumbai to restrict them to what looked like a 180-plus total to a pretty undercooked 155.
Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and invited record 5-time IPL champion Mumbai Indians to bat first. For Mumbai, skipper Quniton de Kock and skipper Rohit Sharma walked out to bat together after 145 days and stitched a solid 78-run opening partnership to propel their team to 155/6 in their allotted 20 overs.
After Sunil Narine departed Rohit Sharma to break the opening stand, De Kock carried on with his form and scored 55 runs. Once Kolkata took out both De Kock and Rohit, Mumbai got choked and none of their batters succeeded in playing a big innings. For Kolkata, Prasidha Krishna and Lockie Ferguson bagged 2 wickets apiece.
This is Kolkata's fourth win in 9 matches. With this, KKR has now come at number four in the points table with eight points. Along with this, their net run rate has also turned from negative to positive. On the other hand, Mumbai Indians have slipped down from number four to sixth place.
Mumbai Indians playing XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Adam Milne, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
Kolkata Knight Riders playing XI: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna