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Kolkata: Rohit Sharma masterclass leads Mumbai Indians to 6-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2016 Match 5 at Eden Gardens here on Wednesday.
Rohit and his new opening partner Parthiv Patel put on an excellent opening stand, amassing 53 in under 6 overs.
Parthiv was the first to go, getting run out by a smart piece of fielding from Brad Hogg. The wily Chinaman was bowling at the time, and Parthiv tried to take a quick but non-existent single. Hogg ran to the ball and threw it back to the striker’s end to catch Parthiv well short.
Hardik Pandya once again came in at No. 3, but like the last match he failed to get going. Pandya gave himself time to get in, but failed to to make the most of the chance to bat up the order.
After facing 10 balls he holed out to Manish Pandey off Piyush Chawla.
MI then pulled a rabbit out of the hat by sending in Mitchell McClenaghan — who had scored 91 runs in 85 T20I matches — at No. 4 as a pinch hitter. The move proved to be a moderate success, as McClenaghan smacked 3 huge sixes in an 8-ball 20 that helped MI get a foot back into the match. McClenaghan was out hitting a Kuldeep Yadav full toss to Colin Munro, but he had done his job.
Jos Buttler came in with 79 runs needed off 49 balls. Rohit was going strong at the other end, and got to his half-century off 38 balls. Buttler then took charge of the chase. He hit Kuldeep for a boundary over cover and followed it up by hitting Hogg for a four over long off and a six over midwicket off conescutive balls.
John Hastings bowled a terrific 18th over, conceding only 4 runs. He could have had Buttler out caught and bowled, but dropped a tough chance. With 18 runs needed off 12 balls, Rohit hit Russell straight back for a boundary. A couple of balls later Buttler holed out to Suryakumar for 41 off 22 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes, which offered hope for a KKR fightback.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey scored sparkling half-centuries and Andre Russell clobbered a quickfire 36 to power KKR to a challenging but not match-winning 187 for 5.
Robin Uthappa was out early, top-edging an attempted pull off Mitchell McClenaghan, but Gambhir and No. 3 Pandey then came together to put on a round 100 for the second wicket with both men getting to their landmarks in good time.
Pandey was the aggressor in the partnership, hitting 52 off 29 balls with 3 fours and as many sixes. He played some attractive shots in the process, and dominated the bowling atack.
Andre Russell at No. 4 to maximise the run-scoring, and he did not disappoint. Russell, who was in good form for West Indies in the ICC T20 World Cup 2016, continued his impressive run. He took a particular liking to Tim Southee en route to a 17-ball 36. He hit 1 four and muscled 4 sixes to dominate a 43-run alliance with Gambhir.
The KKR skipper dropped anchor and looked to play through the innings. He was dropped a couple of times in the process, once by MI captain Rohit Sharma and later by Jasprit Bumrah off his own bowling. Gambhir was finally dismissed top-edging Hardik Pandya to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel for 64 off 52 balls with 4 fours and 1 six.
Yusuf Pathan and Colin Munro, batting at Nos 5 and 6 respectively, tried their best to score some quick runs at the death, but McClenaghan, Pandya, and Bumrah combined to bowl wonderfully at the death to restrict the MI scoring.
Munro was run out for 4, and Suryakumar Yadav scored 4 off the only ball he faced, which was also the final ball of the innings. MI could score only 24 off the last 3 overs, and ended at a moderate but not match-winning 187 for 5.
Brief scores
Kolkata Knight Riders - 187 for 5 (Gambhir 64, Pandey 52, Russell 36)
Mumbai Indians - 188 for 4 (Rohit 84*, Buttler 41)
Result - Mumbai Indians won by 6 wickets
