KKR beat MI by four wickets
Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Mumbai Indians by four wickets in a rain-interrupted IPL match to keep their playoff hopes alive here on Wednesday.
Sent in to bat, MI, who are already eliminated from playoff race, struggled their way to a modest 147 for 8.
Earlier in the game, KKR bowling unit exploited the sluggish conditions to perfection as it choked Mumbai Indians to a modest 147 for eight, in their must-win IPL clash, here on Wednesday.
Opting to bowl under overcast skies on a tacky Eden Gardens pitch that had remained under covers, KKR reduced MI to 41/4 inside the powerplay with Cameron Green (2/23 in three overs) and left-arm pacer Saurabh Dubey (2/34) sharing two wickets apiece up front.
Green was exceptional on the field and with the ball, striking twice in the space of three deliveries to remove Ryan Rickelton (6) and Naman Dhir (0).
He then pulled off a stunning running catch from midwicket to dismiss Rohit Sharma (15) off Dubey just when the Indian stalwart was looking to break free.
MI went on to lose three wickets for six runs in the space of eight balls.
After a one-hour rain interruption, KKR's spin duo of Sunil Narine and injured Varun Chakravarthy tightened the screws further, conceding just 14 runs in their first four overs, bowling in tandem.
Narine, in particular, was menacing with his turn and variable bounce, repeatedly troubling Tilak Varma, before taking the prized scalp of MI skipper Hardik Pandya (26; 27b), beating him with a delivery that drifted in and stayed low to crash into the stumps.
Narine had splendid figures of 1/13 that had 16 dot balls.
Chakravarthy was unlucky not to dismiss Tilak on 12 after spilling a return catch following a collision with wicketkeeper Angkrish Raghuvanshi.
Raghuvanshi hurt his hand in the process and had to walk off the field, with Tejasvi Dahiya coming on as a substitute.
Tilak, however, failed to capitalise on the reprieve, crawling to a 32-ball 20 before holing out to Anukul Roy at square leg off Kartik Tyagi on the short 60-metre boundary.
From 106/7 in 17 overs MI, however, did well to finish well with Corbin Bosch scoring 32 not out from 18 balls with two sixes and three fours as they scored 41 runs in last three overs.
Green earlier triggered the collapse with the new ball.
Rickelton top-edged a short ball to Manish Pandey at point, while Dhir fell for a three-ball duck after Green repeatedly beat him outside off before inducing an edge.
The Australian all-rounder successfully convinced Ajinkya Rahane to review after the on-field umpire turned down the appeal.
At the other end, Dubey bowled probing lines and reaped reward when Rohit miscued an expansive pull, only for Green to complete another brilliant catch running across from midwicket.
Suryakumar Yadav attempted a counterattack, striking Green for successive boundaries and then whipping Dubey over square leg for a six.
But the left-armer responded smartly by switching to around the wicket and angling one back in, forcing Suryakumar to chop onto his stumps for 26.
