Pollard And Rohit’s Smashing Innings Led Mumbai To Beat KKR By Six Wickets

Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard displayed an amazing example of striking batting which outclassed Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets and led Mumbai to win yesterday’s match at the Wankhede Stadium.

At the start of the match, Mumbai Indians won the toss and opted to field first. KKR innings had a flying start as the in-form opening batsmen Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa played successfully in the beginning of the innings. Gambhir smashed 59 runs off 45 balls, however, Harbhajan dismissed Uthappa when he was batting at 36 runs. This was a much-needed breakthrough for Mumbai as Gambhir was in his prime form and keeping a good pace while batting.

Shakib Al Hasan came to bat but was departed early by Hardik Pandya. Mumbai reduced 2 wickets of KKR and the score was 77/2 in the ninth over.

Despite two quick dismissals, Gambhir kept his form and using his experience he was helping his team to make runs. Suryakumar Yadav came to bat and supported Gambhir as he made 21 runs off 17 balls. Gambhir struck yet another half-century in just 39 balls to keep KKR in the hunt for a challenging total.

Gambhir and Suryakumar made a partnership of 44 runs but McClenaghan ended the partnership as he took the wicket of Gambhir. Later, the wicket of KKR batsman Suryakumar brought a huge sigh of relief to Mumbai as the skipper was looking set to finish the game for KKR. Kolkata were 130/4 then but incoming batsman Andre Russell played a quickfire knock as he smashed 22 runs off 16 balls but got out in the 18th over of the match.

Yusuf Pathan and Chris Lynn were on the ground and they took the team past the 170 runs mark as Pathan smashed 19 runs off 8 balls and Lynn scored 10 runs. KKR put on a challenging total of 174 runs with the loss of 5 wickets.

Mumbai innings started and in reply to Gambhir’s smashing innings, Rohit struck unbeaten 68 runs off just 49 balls. Mumbai chased down the target comfortably. Chasing a challenging target of 175 runs, Mumbai got off to a disappointing start as they lost their opener Parthiv Patel (1) in the second over.

But Rohit kept his cool and used his experience to chase the runs smartly without losing any wicket further till the completion of the powerplay. Ambati Rayudu supported Rohit and the Mumbai reached 64/1 after the end of the powerplay.

Rayudu struck 32 runs off 20 balls and the duo of Rohit and Rayudu struck the much-needed partnership of 50 runs for Mumbai. Shakib Al Hasan ended the partnership as he dismissed Rayudu in the seventh over.

Krunal Pandya came to bat but he failed to impress as he was dismissed in the ninth over. Wickets were falling at the other end but that did not stop Rohit from hitting shots, he struck another half-century in just 36 balls which took Mumbai  past the 100-run mark in the 12th over.

Jos Butler was dismissed, when he was playing at 15 and Kieron Pollard came to bat and turned the match in Mumbai’s favour. He came and smashed unbeaten 51 runs in just 17 balls. His innings included 6 sixes and 2 fours and his power batting took the team over the victory line. Mumbai won the game by six wickets.

29 April, 2016
Avni S. Singh