TURN ON IGNISHAN

MUMBAI: Ishan Kishan (58 off 25 balls, 5 fours, 5 sixes) and Suryakumar Yadav (43 off 25 balls, 4 fours, 3 sixes) led the charge as Mumbai Indians handed Kolkata Knight Riders a five-wicket defeat in the Indian Premier League 2023 match here on Sunday.

Venkatesh Iyer’s (104 off 51 balls, 6 fours, 9 sixes) century went in vain as Knight Riders suffered its ninth loss in 10 matches at the Wankhede Stadium. Chasing 186 for its second win of the season, MI got past the line in 17.4 overs, with stand-in skipper Suryakumar banishing batting woes with a key contribution.

Tim David (24 not out off 13 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes) played a cameo while Tilak Varma chipped in with 30 (25 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) and added 60 runs for the third wicket with Suryakumar. Kishan and ‘Impact Player’ Rohit Sharma (20 off 13 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes) had laid the platform for the successful chase with a 65-run stand for the first wicket.

Kishan went hammer and tongs in the powerplay and brought up his fifty off just 21 balls. The southpaw set the tone by taking on Shardul Thakur (4, 4, 6), Umesh Yadav (4, 6) and Sunil Narine (6, 6, 4) as MI raced to 57 without loss at the end of the fourth over. His stay ended as spinner Varun Chakravarthy (1/38) cleaned him up in the eighth over, when the scorecard read 87/2.

While most KKR bowlers had an off day, young leg-spinner Suyash Sharma (4-0-27-2) impressed, accounting for Rohit and Tilak.

Earlier, ‘Man of the Match’ Venkatesh singlehandedly powered Knight Riders to 185 for six after the visitor was invited to bat first. The left-handed batter had injured his knee at the start of the innings while attempting a ramp shot off pacer Cameron Green, but carried on to come up with a special knock. When Venkatesh dominated the MI bowlers with aggression, his top-order colleagues failed to even get to double-digits. Venkatesh contributed heavily in the second and fourth-wicket partnerships while batting alongside Rahmanullah Gurbaz (8) and Thakur (13) respectively.

While the second-wicket stand was worth 46 runs, the fourth-wicket alliance involved 50 runs. Hitting shots all around the park, he brought up his maiden IPL century off 49 balls. Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun Tendulkar, a left-arm pacer making his IPL debut, opened the bowling for the host and sent down two overs in the powerplay.

BRIEF SCORES: Kolkata Knight Riders 185/6 in 20 overs (Venkatesh 104) lost to Mumbai Indians 186/5 in 17.4 overs (I Kishan 58, Suryakumar 43)