Five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) registered a thumping five-wicket win over the Kolkata Knight Riders on April 16 (Sunday). It was bedlam inside the Wankhede Stadium as the home crowd cheered its team and made a ton of noise. The Men in Blue were cheered by 19,000 young girls from 36 NGOs and 200 special children as part of a unique initiative. After securing the win, the MI players paraded around the ground and applauded the fans for their unwavering support.
Zaheer Khan and Parthiv Patel, who were doing the post-match show for Jio Cinema from the ground, were abused by Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan. The two former Indian cricketers were then dragged into the parade as wild celebration gripped Wankhede Stadium.
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Meanwhile, Mumbai chased down the target of 186 runs without even breaking a sweat. Rohit Sharma sat out the first innings after suffering from a stomach bug ahead of the match but came in to open the batting as an impact substitute. He combined very well with Ishan Kishan in the powerplay, taking the game to the KKR bowlers and finding the boundary regularly.
Rohit departed after scoring 20 runs off 13 balls with 1 four and 2 sixes to his name. This did not deter Kishan at the other end, and the wicketkeeper-batter found crucial form to hit an impressive 58 off just 25 balls with 5 fours and as many sixes at a strike rate of 232 as well.
With just 16 runs in four matches, there was a lot of pressure on Suryakumar Yadav heading into the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders. He responded to the added responsibility in some style and went on to score an impressive 43 off 25 balls. His innings included 4 fours and 3 sixes and struck the ball at a rate of 172.00.
He found the boundary often but also rotated the strike on a regular basis to give the young Tilak Varma a chance to go at the opponent batters. The duo combined for a partnership of 60 runs from 38 balls as they ensured that MI were well below the required run rate. But Shardul Thakur broke their partnership after Surya edged the ball to Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
The damage was already done by then, and Tim David and Tilak Varma played carefree shots to reduce the deficit even further. Despite getting the wickets of Nehal Wadhera and Tilak at the business end of the innings, David hit the winning runs in the 17th over as MI sealed the win by wickets with 14 balls to spare.
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