IPL 2020: Mumbai Indians Thrash Kolkata Knight Riders by 49 Runs

Kolkata Knight Riders failed to make an impact in their first game of IPL 2020. They lost to Mumbai Indians by a big margin of 49 runs. Lack of a good show from the batsmen and poor bowling performance in the powerplay had cost KKR.

On the other hand, Mumbai got a stunning performance from its skipper Rohit Sharma. Their star pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/32) took two crucial wickets of Eoin Morgan and Andre Russel to ensure his team a victory. With this win, MI has opened its points tally in IPL 2020.

After being invited to bat by Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai faced an early blow in the form of Shivam Mavi. The young bowler sent Quiton de Kock back to pavilion right in the second over. Mumbai recovered very soon as Rohit Sharma (80) and Surya Kumar Yadav (47) played an aggressive game.

After a 90-run stand, Yadav got run out. Then came Sourabh Tiwary who continued his good form from his first match. But he failed to convert it into a big score. Once Tiwary got dismissed, Hardik Pandya joined Rohit. After scoring a half-century, Rohit shifted gears and started playing heavy shots. When he was looking very dangerous, Shivam Mavi (2/32) removed him. At one point, it looked like Mumbai will cross 200 easily. But Kolkata came back well and restricted MI to 195.

While chasing this humongous total, KKR needed a good start. But they failed to get it as they lost their both the openers Sunil Narine and Shubman Gill inside the first six overs. KKR also managed to score only 33 runs in the powerplay. Captain Dinesh Karthik (30) and Nitesh Rana (24) played sensibly and looked good. Soon, they got out in the 11th and 12th overs respectively. After that, KKR pinned all hopes on Eoin Morgan and Andre Russel.

Especially, there were heavy expectations on the latter but Bumrah castled him in the 16th over. He also dismissed Eoin Morgan in the very same over. That moment made KKR’s loss certain. Pat Cummins had hit four sixes off Bumrah’s over but that was not enough to take his team to the shore. Eventually, KKR ended its innings at 146/9. KKR will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad on September 26. Mumbai will take on Bangalore on September 28.