The Kolkata Knight Riders got their second centurion in the IPL on Sunday, but that in the end did not help them avoid a second straight defeat in the ongoing edition of the tournament.
Venkatesh Iyer’s 108 off 51 balls was the first time a Knight Riders batter got a century after Brendon McCullum had kicked off the IPL with an explosive hundred in 2008. But the Knight Riders still lost at the Wankhede with Mumbai Indians benefitting from the visitors’ below-par finishing with the bat and poor bowling to record a five-wicket win.
In spite of Iyer’s century, all that the Knight Riders could post was 185/6 after being put into bat. That total just wasn’t enough on a belter of a wicket. With one of their batters scoring a hundred, the Knights ought to have reached 200 at least, especially with their middle-order batsmen being in good form.
Ishan Kishan. PTI picture
In reply, keeper-batter Ishan Kishan (58 off 25 balls) regained his rhythm and blasted the Knight Riders quicks as well as their go-to bowler Sunil Narine, smashing the distinguised off-spinner for 22 in his first over.
Kishan and Rohit Sharma, who played as an Impact Player (substituting pacer Riley Meredith) and wasn’t part of the initial XI owing to a stomach bug, hammered 65 upfront inside five overs to put the Knight Riders bowlers under immense pressure.
With the pitch appearing to get easier, the Knight Riders bowlers, including their spinners, found it extremely tough to stem the run flow as the required rate was well within Mumbai’s reach.
Suryakumar Yadav. PTI picture
To compound the Knights’ problems, stand-in Mumbai captain Suryakumar Yadav also found his flow and contributed 43 off 25 balls and stitched 60 for the third-wicket with the talented and consistent Tilak Varma (30).
What bodes really well for the five-time champions is Surya successfully unleashing his trademark pick-up shots on the on-side. As the stand-in captain, he also rotated his bowlers well.
Arjun, son of Sachin Tendulkar, during Sunday’s match at the Wankhede. With Sachin in the Mumbai Indians dugout, Arjun bowled two overs in his debut IPL match conceding 17 runs. Sachin played for Mumbai Indians from 2008 to 2013. The Tendulkars thus became the first father-son duo to play in the IPL, that too for the same franchise. PTI picture
Among the Knight Riders bowlers, young leg-spinner Suyash Sharma (Impact Player for Iyer) was the only one who looked to be having a bit of penetration, finishing with 2/27.
Quicks Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur, too, couldn’t make things happen with the new ball.
Earlier, like McCullum, who hit an unbeaten 158 off 73 balls in the inaugural IPL clash between the Knights and Royal ChallengersBangalore in 2008, left-handed Iyer too scored his runs at a strike rate in excess of 200. But as he reached the 90s after playing some very good strokes, particularly on the on side, Iyer started dealing in singles.
Rinku Singh (18 off 18 balls), too, wasn’t as fluent as he was expected to be.
When Shardul, promoted to No.5, perished, the Knights were scoring at almost 10 an over. But the Iyer-Rinku partnership thereafter scored only 36 off 27 balls that brought the Knights’ scoring rate down to just over nine. Little things make a big difference.
