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Venkatesh Iyer moulds KKR 24-run victory v Mumbai Indians

football03 May 2024 18:17| © MWP
By:Neil Manthorp
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Manish Pandey and Venkatesh Iyer © Getty Images

Venkatesh Iyer was the Kolkata Knight Riders’ hero as they beat the Mumbai Indians by 24 runs to seal a place in the playoffs in their IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.

Iyer and Manish Pandey fashioned an impressive recovery for the visitors as they rebuilt from 57 for five to post a total of 169 all out in 19.4 overs but, on a slow pitch encouraging spinners, Mumbai slumped to 145 all out in reply to lose for the eighth time in 11 games.

Suryakumar Yadav kept Mumbai’s hopes alive with 56 from 35 balls while wickets tumbled around him, but when Andre Russell (2-30) deceived him with a slower ball bouncer resulting in a top edge to ‘keeper Phil Salt, the game was up at 120 for seven in the 16th over.

Big-hitting Australian Tim David limped to 24 from 20 balls batting at No 8 but when he holed out to long on against Mitchell Starc (4-33) the Knight Riders’ celebrations started.

Earlier Iyer scored a composed 70 from 52 balls (6x4, 3x6) while ‘impact player’ Pandey reached 42 from 31 balls with a pair of fours and sixes during a sixth-wicket stand of 83 before he was caught on the boundary by substitute fielder Dewald Brevis.

It all seemed to have gone awry for the high-flying Knight Riders when five wickets fell in just 6.1 overs starting with opener Phil Salt (5) whose leading edge against Sri Lankan seamer Nuwan Thusara was caught at cover.

Thusara (3-42) claimed the next two scalps as well with Angrish Raghuvanshi (13) also caught at cover and captain Shreyas Iyer (6) miscuing to David at mid-on.

A becalmed Sunil Narine (8) pulled the first ball from Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya for six and lost his stump to the second ball while Rinku Singh (9) also leading-edged veteran legspinner Piyush Chawla (3-0-15-1) straight back to the bowler.

KKR’s hopes of posting a more competitive total were ended by the brilliant Jasprit Bumrah who knocked over the tail to finish with 3-18 from 3.4 overs.

Pandya admitted at the toss that his team were “playing for pride” with just three wins from 10 matches and nothing but the slimmest of theoretical chances to reach the playoff stages.

The Knight Riders moved out of a three-way share of second place on the log with 14 points and are now two points ahead of the Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad who have 12 points. KKR (14) are now just two points behind leaders Rajasthan Royals on 16 points.

Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan (wkt), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Hardik Pandya (captain), Naman Dhir, Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Nuwan Thushara

Kolkata Knight Riders: Philip Salt (wkt), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy

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