 "Kolkata Knight Riders leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy celebrates with captain Shreyas Iyer after dismissing Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya at the Eden Gardens on Saturday, 11 May. PTI")
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) handed Mumbai Indians (MI) an 18-run defeat in a rain-curtailed encounter at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on Saturday to become the first team to qualify for the playoffs in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
KKR also completed a rare season double against five-time champions MI with their victory on Saturday, having beaten the five-time champions by 24 runs at the Wankhede Stadium earlier this season.
Venkatesh Iyer once again came to the two-time champions’ rescue, scoring a 21-ball 42 and helping the home team rebuild their innings in the middle overs after they had been reduced to 10/2 inside the powerplay following MI skipper Hardik Pandya’s decision to field.
Nitish Rana too made a useful contribution, playing the anchor’s role with his knock of 33 off 23 deliveries while Andre Russell (24 off 14) and Rinku Singh (20 off 12) teed off in the death overs to ensure KKR posted a competitive 157/7 on the board in the match that had been reduced to 16 overs per side.
MI were off to a rollicking start in reply, racing to 59/0 at the end of the five-over powerplay with wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan (40 off 22) leading their charge early in the innings. KKR, however, began to tighten their grip on the proceedings after Kishan and Rohit Sharma (19 off 22) departed in quick succession, the latter disappointing with the bat once again with another scratchy innings.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMI’s hopes gradually began to fade thereafter with Suryakumar Yadav getting dismissed on 11 and the trio of skipper Pandya (2), Tim David (0) and Nehal Wadhera (3) departing for single-digit scores. Tilak Varma (32 off 17), MI’s leading run-scorer this season, and Naman Dhir (17 off 6) briefly revived MI’s hopes with some big hits in the death overs, but ultimately couldn’t get their team over the line and were dismissed by Harshit Rana in the final over of the innings.
Spinner Varun Chakravarthy was adjudged the Player of the Match for his outstanding figures of 2/17 from four overs collecting the wickets of former skipper Rohit and his successor Pandya along the way. For Mumbai, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (2/28) and pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/39) collected a couple of wickets each, the latter getting rid of opener Sunil Narine with a magnificent inswinging yorker.
It was the final match of the season at Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens, with KKR signing off from their home ground on a high.
The win helped the Shreyas Iyer-led side collected their ninth win of the season in 12 outings, taking their points tally to 18. The Knight Riders, who collected their fourth consecutive victory on Saturday, currently are favourites for the top-two finish which will give them two shots at qualifying for the final.
However, with 18 points on the board, the lowest KKR can finish at on the table will be third if Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) end up winning both of their remaining matches.
In that scenario, RR finishes at the top with 22 points while SRH and KKR finish level on 18 points, with Net Run Rate (NRR) deciding the second and third positions.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Delhi Capitals (DC) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are the next three teams in the fray with 12 points each and can collect a maximum of 16 points if they end up winning all of their remaining matches. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) have 10 points each and can finish with a maximum of 14 if they win both of their remaining matches.
Thus, KKR will not finish at the fourth spot, for which several teams are in the fray, even if they end up losing both of their remaining matches — against GT and RR, both away from home.