Kolkata Knight Riders lost a closely fought battle against Mumbai Indians by 13 runs the other night. With this defeat, KKR ended their week 4 of VIVO IPL with a win (against CSK) and a loss to MI. As all the teams are heading for the play-offs, KKR would like to surge up the points-table. Defeat against MI wasn’t an ideal finish of the week. But plenty of things happened in the last seven days. Here are some highlights:
Super Win Against Chennai Super Kings at Eden Gardens
When you play CSK, the opposite team must buckle-up, especially the bowlers. Such is their (CSK’s) batting line-up. Smart bowling change by Dinesh Karthik held the visitors to perhaps a below-par total of 177/5. KKR completed the chase with 14 balls remaining.
Shubman Gill’s Heroic
This kid is the real deal! A match-winner on any day! Many have seen him during India’s successful U-19 World Cup campaign. But in the IPL he was yet to prove himself. Promoted up the order at no. 4, against CSK, Gill showed his talent and played one matured innings of 57* runs that came in just 36 balls.
DK-Shubman Partnership
Despite a great start by Sunil Narine (32 runs off 20 balls), KKR were struggling at 97/4 in 11.4 overs. Shubman was promoted up the ordered and was settled by the time Skipper, DK walks out to bat at number 6. The two counter-attacked the CSK bowlers and built an unbroken partnership of 83* runs that too in just 36 balls.
Loss against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium
At the back of poor head-to-head record against Mumbai Indians, KKR were once again up against a formidable MI side. As usual Rohit Sharma-led MI were at their best against us and at one point had 91 runs on board without a wicket in 9.1 overs. We fought back and took wickets in short periods, but couldn’t manage to stop the spiking run-rate in the death overs. MI posted 181/4 in their 20 overs and we fall short by 13 runs during the chase.
Robin Uthappa’s first 50 in IPL 2018
The only positive that we may have from the match against MI was Uthappa’s first half-century in VIVO IPL 2018. His 54 runs knock came in just 35 balls, and KKR were at the comfortable position at one stage. His wicket was the game changer and the rest of the batsmen were never able to bring the required run-rate down.
