IPL 2018: Suryakumar Yadav the hero as Mumbai Indians clinch clinical win vs KKR
Mumbai: On a usual Sunday evening, Mumbai Indians erased off their Monday blues ahead of the new week as the Men in Blue achieved a morale-boosting 13-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the 37th match of the Indian Premier League here at Wankhede Stadium, thanks to a gritty half-century by Suryakumar Yadav (59).
Electing to bowl first, the visitors conceded 91 runs for the first wicket, with openers Suryakumar and Evin Lewis (43) looking dangerous in the middle. While Suryakumar continued his impressive form this season, Lewis missed out on what would have been just his second IPL fifty. Interestingly, this was the third time that the West Indian youngster got out in the forties this season, previously having been dismissed for 47 and 48 against Chennai Super Kings and delhi Daredevils respectively.
However, all was not going well for the hosts, as they soon lost captain Rohit Sharma (11), who was followed by Suryakumar.
This was followed by a 24-run partnership by the Pandya brothers-Hardik and Krunal- after which the latter was dismissed for 14.
However, the hosts got back their confidence as Hardik (35) and JP Duminy (13) aggregated 30 runs in exactly three overs to finish at 181-5.
KKR promoted Shubman Gill to the opening slot with Chris Lynn following his match-winning effort of 57 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the previous game. As a resut, Sunil Narine was demoted to number seven in the batting order.
In reply, the visitors lost openers Chris Lynn ( 17) and Shubman Gill (7) between the end of the second over and the start of the third over, in a gap of three balls.
Struggling at 28-2, Robin Uthappa (54) and Nitish Rana (31) put up a brave effort and built a 84-run stand after which the half-centurion departed.
Read: IPL 2018, MI v KKR: Mumbai Indians keep their season alive, beat KKR by 13 runs
However, in the span of exactly an over, Rana departed as Hardik Pandya got his second victim.
With KKR needing 23 runs off the final over, Sunil Narine's stay at the crease was short-lived as Krunal Pandya joined the party to dismiss the West Indian batsman for just five runs.
In the end, it was a clinical performance by the hosts as they came back on the right track of winning matches.
