KKR cruise to fourth spot with comprehensive win

Kolkata Knight Riders 159 for 3 (Tripathi 74*, Iyer 53, Bumrah 3-43) beat Mumbai Indians 155 for 6 (de Kock 55, Rohit 33, Ferguson 2-27) by seven wickets.

Abu Dhabi: Rahul Tripathi and Venkatesh Iyer dazzled with the bat as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by seven wickets in Match 34 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

While Iyer scored his maiden IPL fifty, Tripathi slammed an unbeaten 74 off 42 balls as KKR chased down the target with 4.5 overs to spare.

Needing 156 runs to win, KKR made a scintillating start, courtesy Shubman Gill and Iyer, and moved to 40 in 17 balls. However, the partnership was broken as Jasprit Bumrah disturbed the timber to send Gill packing.

Tripathi, who joined Iyer in the middle, made sure that KKR did not lose the momentum. The right-hander and Iyer added 23 runs in the final three overs of the powerplay as KKR moved to 63/1.

The big-hitting did not stop as Iyer and Tripathi continued to go after the MI bowlers, scoring 48 runs in the next four overs to take KKR to 111/1 after 10 overs. In the next over, the left-hander notched up a fine fifty – his first in the IPL – in 25 balls.

Tripathi then completed his half-century – seventh in the IPL – in the 12th over as KKR continued to make merry with the bat.

Iyer’s innings came to an end though as MI managed to break the 88-run partnership, courtesy Bumrah. While the right-arm pacer picked one more wicket, dismissing Eoin Morgan, Tripathi took KKR home.

Earlier, KKR, who retained their winning combination from the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), elected to bowl against MI, who saw the return of their skipper Rohit Sharma.

MI were a little watchful in the first two overs before Rohit and Quinton de Kock hit four fours over the course of the next two overs. de Kock then hit three sixes in the next two overs as MI moved to 56/0 after 6 overs.

MI then had a couple of quiet overs before de Kock creamed two fours off Andre Russell in the ninth over.

But KKR managed to break the opening stand as Sunil Narine dismissed Rohit in the 10th over to give KKR a much-needed breakthrough. Three overs later, MI lost Suryakumar Yadav as Prasidh Krishna picked his first wicket.

While de Kock brought up a fine half-century and MI moved past fifty, the left-hander got out soon after as Prasidh struck in the 15th over. Ishan Kishan was the next man to get out as Lockie Fergsuon scalped his first wicket.

Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya then added a quickfire 30-run stand before getting out.