Rohit, Rickelton’s blistering fifties power MI to 6-wicket win over KKR

Mumbai Indians rode on blistering half-centuries from former skipper Rohit Sharma (78) and Ryan Rickelton (81) to comfortably beat Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets, thus breaking the hoodoo of not winning any of their opening games in the last 13 editions of the IPL on Sunday.

While they had lost each of their first matches of an IPL edition since beating Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in 2012, five-time winners Mumbai Indians hit full throttle in their chase of 221, replying with 224/4 in 19.1 overs.

Playing his first T20 game since last IPL, former India and Mumbai Indians captain Rohit appeared to have sharpened his game a few notches as he smacked a 38-ball 78 with six sixes and as many fours.

At the other end, Ryan Rickelton made a belligerent 81 off 43 balls with eight sixes and four fours while making the most of two lifelines, helping Mumbai Indians finally collect those elusive two points from the first game. Rohit was adroit in not just picking the lengths of the ball early or with his movement at the crease, but with some of the shots that he executed to perfection.

Like against the lanky Blessing Muzarabani, the 38-year-old danced down the track to spank a short ball over extra cover for a six in the fourth over, or when he timed the ball as sweetly as it could be against Varun Chakravarthy to send it sailing over the cover for another six in the next.

And those quintessential Rohit’s hits over cover were on display too, one of which was unleashed effortlessly against Kartik Tyagi in the sixth as Rohit completed his half-century off a mere 23 balls. At the other end, Rickelton blissfully took down KKR’s mystery spin duo of Sunil Narine and Chakravarthy, targetting the leg-side boundaries to clear the ropes.

Rohit and Rickelton put on 148 off 72 balls to put MI in the driver’s seat before falling to Anukul Roy’s brilliance in the outfield. It was the fifth-wicket pair of Hardik Pandya (18 not out) and Naman Dhir (5 not out) that took MI over the line.  Earlier, skipper Ajinkya Rahane (67) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (51) struck vital half-centuries but Kolkata Knight Riders posted a par score of 220 for 4.

On a placid wicket, Shardul Thakur (3/39) provided Mumbai crucial breakthroughs as their bowlers could not really impose themselves in their maiden outing.  Both senior pacers Trent Boult (0/38) and Jasprit Bumrah (0/35) went wicketless but India’s pace spearheads’ 18th and 20th over stopped KKR from getting closer to 250.

Rahane began with a wristy flick over wide long-on with exquisite timing for a six off Boult in the first over, KKR got the impetus when Pandya (1/39) erred throughout the fourth over to give away 26 runs. The skipper helped himself with two pick-up shots down the leg for consecutive sixes while Finn Allen (37 off 17 balls) drilled Pandya down the ground for a powerful hit for four, ending with a scoop past the ‘keeper and short fine leg for a third boundary.

Before that, Allen had clobbered two sixes and a four off debutant Allah Ghazanfar (0/51) to collect 17 runs in the third over.

Despite Thakur striking on his second ball to get rid of Finn, caught by Tilak Varma off an innocuous at long-on, KKR stood a happier side at 78/1 after the powerplay.

KKR crossed the 100-run mark inside the eighth over and Rahane looked set for a triple digit score at one stage, striking over 200.

But Thakur’s twin strikes in separate spells broke the momentum for the visitors, which also saw the new batters not being able to keep up.

The burly Cameron Green was forced to chase short and wide deliveries by Thakur in the ninth over and on second such ball, the Australian hit it straight to Sherfane Rutherford who took a fine diving catch in front.

Then, in his third and 14th over of the innings, Thakur deceived Rahane with a slower cross-seam delivery outside the off which the KKR skipper hit inside out, only to be caught by his MI counterpart at cover with ease despite moving some paces behind.

Rahane’s 67 off 40 balls, studded with five sixes and three fours, once again showcased how much the veteran Indian batter has been putting in his batting for the white-ball format.

But there was some concern for Rahane and KKR after the skipper hobbled off the field seemingly due to cramps in the fourth over of MI’s chase.

There was a delightful hit over bowler Mayank Markande’s head for a six while Ghazanfar was smacked over midwicket for another six with Rahane getting down on his knee.

If Rahane went hard from the onset, Raghuvanshi (51 off 29 balls, 6x4s, 2x6s) was sluggish for a large part of his innings and was also dropped twice, but recovered well to unleash a few big hits towards the end.