IPL 2016: Rohit, Pollard help Mumbai Indians beat KKR by six wickets

NEW DELHI: Keiron Pollard hit the third fastest IPL fifty, off 17 balls, and Rohit Sharma carried his bat through the innings as they helped Mumbai Indians chased down 175-run target in 18 overs to beat Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets in the 24th match of the Indian Premier League season nine at the Wankhede stadium on Thursday.
Pollard hit six huge sixes and two fours to score an unbeaten 51 off just 17 balls, whereas Rohit remained undefeated on 68 off 49 balls, which included two sixes and eight fours.The duo added 72 runs for the fifth wicket in just five overs as they finished off with six wickets and two overs to spare. Sunil Narine was the only bowler who escaped the Pollard-Rohit carnage as he finished with impressive figures of two for 22 in his four overs.
Rohit started the chase with a six in the second ball off Jaydev Unadkat, but Mumbai lost Parthiv Patel early in the next over. Umesh Yadav gave KKR an early breakthrough with his first ball of the innings as Yusuf, stretched on his left, caught Parthiv at first slip. Ambati Rayudu kept the runs flowing as he hit a four off Yadav and then a four and six off consecutive balls in Shakib Al Hasan's over. Rohit then joined with two back-to-back fours off Yadav in the fourth, before hitting another six off Unadkat's first ball of second spell to take Mumbai past fifty-run mark. The duo safely took the hosts to 64/1 after Powerplay overs.
It took a stunning catch by Suryakumar Yadav at wide long-on to dismiss Rayudu, who scored 32 off 20 balls with the help of a six and five boundaries, as Shakib ended Mumbai's 59-run stand for the second wicket. Krunal Pandya didn't last long as he tried to charge Narine and found his stumps uprooted. Rohit then guided Mumbai to 85/3 at halfway mark, and they crossed 100 in the 12th over. Rohit soon completed his fourth fifty of the season, 29th in IPL, off 36 balls, hitting two sixes and five fours.
Chris Lynn took a brilliant catch at long-off to dismiss Jos Buttler (15), but third umpire took five minutes to take the decision in favour of the fielder as Lynn had to release the ball after catching it to avoid going over the ropes with it and came back to complete the catch. The wicket put Mumbai on 106/4 with seven overs left, which means they needed 69 more in 42 balls. Rohit hit two fours off Andre Russell in the next and Pollard did the same to Shakib as they took Mumbai to 126/4 after 15 overs.
With 49 needed in five overs, Pollard targeted Rajagopal Sathish in the 16th and smacked three huge sixes in it to score 23 runs and made the equation a favourable 26 off 24 balls. Rohit then saw off Narine's final over to make it 19 off 18 balls. Pollard then hit three more sixes off Unadkat to finish off the chase in style.
Sent in to bat, Gautam Gambhir scored third fifty of the season and put on 69 runs for the opening wicket with Robin Uthappa to help KKR post a competitive 174/5. Gambhir welcomed the 'purple cap' holder Mitchell McClenaghan with a boundary in the first ball of the second over, and after conceding ten runs in the first five balls the New Zealand pacer missed a simple caught and bowled chance in the last ball to give KKR skipper an early reprieve. Uthappa hit the first maximum of the innings off Jasprit Bumrah in the fifth over, after hitting two fours off Southee in the third.
Uthappa then hit another six in the second ball of Harbhajan Singh to take KKR to fifty in just 5.2 overs, before ending the Powerplay on 59 for no loss. Gambhir and Uthappa - the second best opening pair of the IPL, also completed 1200 runs as a pair and put on their fourth fifty-run stand of the season. But Harbhajan came back to give Mumbai an important break, in the eighth over, when he dismissed Uthappa for 36, who was caught by Pollard at long-on while trying to smack the full toss out of the park and mistimed it. Uthappa hit two sixes and a four in his 20-ball quick-fire knock. Mumbai soon got another wicket, when Shakib gave away a catch to Patel off Hardik Pandya's bouncer as KKR lost two wickets for eight runs to be on 77/2 in 8.5 overs.
Gambhir then took KKR to 100 in 11.5 overs along with Suryakumar, who hit two fours off Harbhajan early in his innings. Gambhir then hit a six and a four in successive balls off Krunal to reach his fifty off 39 balls. But in the next over, Gambhir, trying to increase the tempo, mishit McClenaghan's short delivery and gave away a simple catch to Pollard at mid-off. Gambhir played a captain's knock of 59 in 45 balls, which included a six and six fours and also added a quick 44 runs for the third wicket with Suryakumar in five overs.
KKR lost another wicket in quick time, as Southee came back to dismiss Suryakumar for 21, whose top-edge resulted in a simple caught & bowled chance for the Kiwi pacer. But Russell kept the scorecard running as he smacked three fours in four balls off Bumrah's 17th, before he was clean bowled by Southee in the next over for 22. Yusuf Pathan hit Southee for consecutive fours immediately as the pacer completed his four overs with two for 38 runs. Pathan remained unbeaten on 19 off eight balls, hitting four boundaries and scored 29 runs in the final 2.4 overs with Lynn.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 178/4 in 18 overs (Rohit 68*, Pollard 51*; Narine 2/22) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 174/5 (Gambhir 59; Uthappa 36; Southee 2/38) by six wixckets.