Picture : Twitter / IPL
Rohit Sharma captained Mumbai Indians came out with yet another dominating display in the Dream11 IPL 2020. In Abu Dhabi they outclassed the Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets with 19 balls to spare in a one- sided contest.
KKR before the match in a major decision announced that Dinesh karthik had stepped down and England’s 2019 ICC World Cup winning skipper Eoin Morgan has been named as the new skipper. The new appointment mid- way is bound to raise questions why change of captaincy after seven matches ?
The first match in charge for Morgan did not go the way he wanted. Having won the toss, Morgan decided to bat first but to his shock found his top order collapse like a pack of cards. Rahul Tripathi (7 ) Shubman Gill (21), Nitish Rana ( 5), Dinesh Karthik (4) , Andre Russell (12). At 61/5 in 10. 4 overs the game was over for the KKR . But thanks to fine cameo Aussie speedster Pat Cummins an unbeaten 53 off 36 balls with five fours and two sixes and fine supporting hand form new KKR skipper Eoin Morgan who too remained unbeaten on 39 Off 29 balls with two fours and two sixes , KKR from a hopeless position reached something of a target to bowl at 148 / 5 in their twenty overs. Cummins – Morgan put on together 88 runs in 56 balls. It was too small a target against the power packed Mumbai Indians batting line-up.
Mumbai Indians bowling was once again top class, Trent Boult has in all matches given the side early breakthroughs. New Zealand’s top bowler has proved to be good buy for the Mumbai Indians. Boult had figures of 1/ 32 ( 4 overs) , Rahul Chahar was brilliant 2 / 18 (4 overs), Jasprit Bumrah 1/ 22 ( 4 overs) playing after along time Nathan Coulter Nile was expensive 1 / 51 ( 4 overs) Krunal Pandya 0 / 23 ( 4 overs)
In reply Mumbai Indians came out firing . Quinton de Kock and skipper Rohit Sharma toyed with the KKR bowling and made the chase look easy. KKR bowlers bowled wrong line and length and paid a heavy price. Rohit Sharma scored 35 off 36 balls in a opening stand of 94. After Rohit fell, there was no stopping De Kock right through the innings . The The South African right from the start was in aggressive mood and timing the ball superbly and his knock was special. De Kock remained unbeaten with a power packed 78 off 44 balls with 9 fours and three sixes . Hardik Pandya ( unbeaten 21 off 11 bals) towards the end hit some lusty blows to power the Mumbai Indians to a comfortable 8 wicket victory and 19 balls remaining.
For KKR , after their flop batting their bowling too fell apart. The sorry figures said it all . Chris Green 0/24 ( 2.5 overs), Pat Cummins has taken only two wickets so far. Big worry indeed . 0/ 38 ( 3 overs) in this match. Prasidh Krishna 0/30 ( 2 overs) He bowled a fine first ball to Rohit Sharma then sprayed all over and was thrashed. Andre Russell 0/ 15 ( 2 overs), Varun Chakravarthy 1/ 23 ( 4 overs) , Shivam Mavi 1/ 24 ( 3 overs)
#MumbaiIndians are back on top in the Points Table after Match 32 of #Dream11IPL. pic.twitter.com/eRf9uQ2YRq
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 16, 2020
While Mumbai Indians reach the top of the table , KKR remains on fourth. KKR need to get their top order in form in the remaining six matches and their bowlers need to take wickets, otherwise their play- offs chances appear bleak.
