Kolkata, Mumbai Indians produced a brilliant bowling and fielding performance after Ishan Kishan’s batting pyrotechnics as the defending champions thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders by 102 runs to stay in the hunt for a playoffs berth in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday.
Sent in to bat at the Eden Gardens, Mumbai scored an imposing 210/6, riding on 19-year-old Kishan’s 21-ball 62, studded with five fours and six sixes, and then bowled KKR out for 108 in 18.1 overs.
Brothers Krunal and Hardik Pandya returned with figures of 2/12 and 2/16, respectively, while all the other five MI bowlers took a wicket each as they excelled as a bowling unit.
Chasing an imposing target of 211, KKR suffered a batting collapse. Chris Lynn and Nitish Rana top-scored with 21 each while all the other KKR batsmen came a cropper. Their highest partnership was 31 between Lynn and Uthappa (14) for the second wicket.
KKR made a disastrous start to their run chase as Sunil Narine (4) was out on the second ball, top-edging a Mitchell McClenaghan short delivery to Krunal Pandya. Lynn and Uthappa were going strong but a horrible mix-up in the fourth over led to Lynn being run out as the home side were reduced to 32/2. The two wickets meant KKR were lagging behind in the powerplay overs as they could score just 47 from the first six overs.
Earlier, Kishan smashed a 17-ball half-century as MI overcame a slow start to post 210/6. Ishan tore apart KKR’s bowling, hammering Kuldeep Yadav for four consecutive sixes, en route to his 62 (5×4, 6×6).