Mumbai outclass Knight Riders

Mumbai, April 29

Riding on skipper Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 68 alongside Kieron Pollard’s quickfire 17-ball 51, defending champions Mumbai Indians outclassed Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.

Batting first, KKR posted a competitive total of 174-5 in 20 overs, thanks to skipper Gautam Gambhir’s 45-ball 59. In reply, Rohit struck 68 not out off just 49 balls, as the hosts chased down the target comfortably posting 178-4 in 18 overs.

Rohit struck eight boundaries and two sixes, while Pollard smashed six sixes and two boundaries to take the team to victory. Chasing a challenging target of 175, the home side got off to a disappointing start losing in-form opener Parthiv Patel (one) in the second over itself.

But his opening partner, skipper Rohit Sharma used his experience to best effect to score runs at a good pace without losing anymore wickets to help the team reach 64-1 after completion of powerplay. He was supported well at the other end by Ambati Rayudu (32).

The duo struck a much needed 50-run partnership for the second wicket in just 27 balls to help the team stay on course for a victory.

But Shakib Al Hasan dismissed Rayudu in the seventh over. New batsman Krunal Pandya (six) failed to impress as his dismissal in the ninth over reduced Mumbai to 78-2.

After the dismissal of Jos Buttler (15), incoming batsman Kieron Pollard came into the show and smashed Rajagopal Sathish for 23 runs in the 16th over to put Mumbai on course to a win. From there on, Pollard and Rohit remained unbeaten to take the team over the victory line.

Sunil Narine (2-22) was the pick of the bowlers for Kolkata, while Shakib Al Hasan and Umesh Yadav claimed one wicket each.

Earlier, put into bat, Gambhir and Robin Uthappa (36) got KKR off to a flying start scoring 59 without losing any wickets after the completion of powerplay. But Harbhajan brought the much needed breakthrough dismissing Uthappa to put the brakes on the KKR run flow.

Incoming batsman Shakib Al Hasan (six) too departed cheaply, to have the visitors reduced to 77-2 in the ninth over.

Southee (2-38) was the pick of bowlers for Mumbai, while Harbhajan Singh, McClenaghan and Hardik Pandya claimed one each.