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Kolkata: Rohit Sharma's 98* went in vain as KKR outplayed Mumbai Indians to register a comfortable 7-wicket victory at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday.
Morne Morkel’s first delivery of the 2015 edition of the Pepsi IPL was hit for a boundary by the Mumbai Indians’ opener Aaron Finch. The ball drifted down the leg side and was easily worked off the pads by Finch.
A ball later, the MI opener was put in a spot of bother by the same bowler who hurried him for pace, made him play a half-hearted pull and ultimately hole out to Umesh Yadav in the deep.
Morkel claimed his first victim of this year’s IPL and things got a notch better in the three overs that followed. He ended up with figures of 2 for 18 in his four overs, giving KKR an early advantage in the game.
He was adjudged the Man-of-the-match for his stellar bowling performance after the batsmen finished the job for the team later in the evening.
Morkel sure didn’t panic after being hit for a boundary off the very first ball. Instead what followed later was a seething spell of fast bowling that created a lot of doubts in the minds of the Mumbai Indians batsmen. They found Morkel’s pace too hot to handle and were most of the times on the defensive against him. A wicket maiden and 15 dot balls in the spell were like a cherry on the cake. For Morkel it was all about sticking to his own strengths and executing his game plans.
The opening match of Pepsi IPL 2015 turned out to be a cracking contest as the Kolkata Knight Riders outclassed the Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Set to chase a highly competitive 169, KKR coasted to a comfortable victory – courtesy a stunning partnership between their skipper Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey.
Despite losing the in-form Robin Uthappa early in the run-chase, KKR were put back on track almost immediately through a counter-attacking partnership between Gambhir and Pandey. While Gambhir initially ticked the strike-over, Pandey was on overdrive mode right through. The pair added 85 runs in 9.1 overs before Pandey (40 from 24 balls) holed out to Kieron Pollard at long-on, handing Harbhajan Singh his only wicket of the evening.
Earlier in the evening, the Mumbai Indians recovered from a precarious 37 for 3 to post 168 – thanks in main to an unbeaten 131-run partnership between skipper Rohit Sharma and Corey Anderson.
Morne Morkel justified his captain’s decision to put the visitors in to bat by striking twice early on. In an aggressive spell of fast fowling, Morkel – who registered an average speed of 144.3 kph – dished out several unplayable deliveries and returned with the wickets of MI opener Aaron Finch and Ambati Rayudu.
Reduced to 37 for 3 within the first six overs, MI’s recovery came through a partnership between Rohit and Corey Anderson.
Rohit Sharma, who began the last over needing 7 to get to his century, could only score five in the over and remained unconquered on 98, while Anderson finished unbeaten on 55 from 41 balls.
Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders have won the toss and opted to field.
Russell, Narine, Morkel and Shakib are the four overseas players in KKR XI whilw Finch, Anderson, Pollard and Malinga are Mumbai's overseas players.
Teams
Kolkata: Gautam Gambhir (Capt.), Robin Uthappa (wk), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav, Morne Morkel
Mumbai: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Aaron Finch, Ambati Rayudu, Aditya Tare (wk), Corey Anderson, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Vinay Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Pragyan Ojha
Brief scores
Mumbai Indians - 168 for 3 (Rohit 98*, Anderson 55*)
Kolkata Knight Riders - 170 for 3 (Gambhir 57, Suryakumar 46, Pandey 40)
Result - Kolkata Knight Riders won by 7 wickets
Points - Kolkata Knight Riders 2, Mumbai Indians 0
MOM - Morne Morkel (Kolkata Knight Riders)
