Magnificent MI ends KKR's campaign

Losing six games in a row in the middle of the season, most teams are out of the tournament by much before the end of the league stage. But inconsistent performances by most of the sides meant KKR went into their last league game still holding decent chances to qualify for the playoffs. The equation was simple as it could get - win the game and you occupy the last vacant spot in the Top 4.

KKR were put into bat first by their arch-nemesis, Mumbai Indians - not a bad deal after losing the toss at Wankhede - and started quite decently with Chris Lynn looking in his elements scoring 38 off 22 in the first six. KKR were 48 for no loss, laying the foundation on which Andre Russell could feast on in the later stages of the innings.

However, the very next phase of the innings did not begin too well for the visitors. Hardik Pandya caught Shubman Gill right in front of the stumps and the KKR innings went downhill from that point. Robin Uthappa came out to bat, the man who was in the middle not only to keep his team alive in the tournament but also to extend his career as an IPL player, and struggled to keep up with the demands of the Wankhede track.

Chris Lynn departed two overs later, Dinesh Karthik came out to bat promoting himself to number 4 and there were two similar kind of players in the middle for Kolkata. Two generally slow starters at the initial part of their innings when KKR were looking for some quick runs. As a result, KKR’s run-rate never went above 8 - their run rate at the end of the 6th over.

KKR managed only 51 runs in the middle-phase (7th to 15th over), the lowest in the mid-phase this season at Wankhede. Robin Uthappa playing out a maiden in the 11th over of the innings where he failed to get his bat on the ball five times was a hallmark of his struggle. Dinesh Karthik at the other end didn’t help the cause either scoring 3 runs at a strike-rate of 33 before losing his wicket to Lasith Malinga in the 13th over.

The only thing that could save Kolkata’s sinking innings was another Andre Russell special. With more than six overs to go, he had the time to get his eye in but the lacklustre performance in the middle overs so far meant he could not afford to use it.

On the other hand, Mumbai, for whom the game only meant a spot in the Top 2 turned up after doing their homework for the possible game-changing moments in the game and Andre Russell’s arrival was certainly one of them. The plan against him was to not only bowl short at him but to keep it on his body as well and Malinga begin wide down the leg side. However, the veteran hit the bull’s eye next delivery and Russell’s attempt to stay away from the ball was not got enough. The ball kissed his glove and Quinton de Kock pouched it safely.

Andre Russell was gone for a first-ball duck in the most important game of the tournament for KKR and that was probably the final nail in the coffin. Nitish Rana came out scoring 15 from his first 5 balls with Robin Uthappa continuing his hit-and-miss trend. The MI bowling attack was too good to let remaining KKR batsmen flourish in the death. The visitors huffed and puffed their way to a paltry 133/7 in 20 overs.

Robin Uthappa scored 40 off 47 deliveries playing 25 dot balls, KKR played 60 dots in total and their poor bowling performance in the tournament did not give great hopes of them defending a below-par score.

Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock walked out to bat without any pressure. Starting cautiously, de Kock struck Russell for two sixes and a four in the fourth over adding salt to the wounds of Jamaican all-rounder’s miseries of dismissed for a golden duck earlier in the game. From there on, it was just a cakewalk for Mumbai Indians.

Skipper Rohit Sharma looked at his fluent best on the way to his second fifty in the tournament while Suryakumar Yadav scored a flawless 46 taking Mumbai to a 9-wicket win. A six to end the game from Yadav stamped Mumbai’s dominance in the game and also in the league stage as the Rohit-Sharma led side finished the league stage at the top of the table, on the virtue of a better net run rate than Chennai and Delhi.

Kolkata’s ouster from the tournament has gifted a spot in the Top 4 to Sunrisers Hyderabad, the first side to qualify for the playoffs with 12 points on the table.

As discussed earlier, Shubman Gill’s departure in the 7th over proved to be a big setback for KKR. In addition, only 2 runs in the over brought their run rate down to 7.14 and the possibilities of their victory dropped by 9%, the biggest setback to their chances throughout the innings. 

Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock collected 21 runs of the 4th over in their run-chase which was bowled by Andre Russell, taking their chances of a victory to 94%.

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