Following a defeat to the Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL opener, Mumbai Indians regained their momentum with a win over the Kolkata Knight Riders.
In a team of Rohit Sharmas, Kieron Pollards and Jos Buttlers, it takes something special for someone else to be applauded. Nitish Rana indeed served out a special, one that would’ve tasted sweeter for Mumbai Indians.
The 23-year-old scored a 29-ball 50 to turn a dire situation for MI into a delightful one as the hosts chased down 179 against the Kolkata Knight Riders with four wickets and a ball to spare in a dramatic IPL game at the Wankhede in Mumbai on Sunday.
MI looked down in the dumps at 119/5, but Rana carried on with infectious self-belief and valour that rubbed off even on Hardik Pandya as he provided the finishing touches to his inexperienced teammate’s brilliance.
The successful chase began from the top, though. Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler again justified the decision of dropping Rohit Sharma down the order, adding a breezy 65 inside eight overs. Their cruise was checked by the Knights, Kuldeep Yadav and Ankit Rajpoot sending them back in consecutive overs. If the double blow wasn’t enough, Sharma got a horror of a decision in the next over. The MI captain got a big inside edge off a straight Sunil Narine delivery but was given LBW.
Kieron Pollard came in and played a very un-Pollard knock, a 17-ball 17 before to edging a slash off Chris Woakes to the third man as the hosts were down to 119/5. With 49 needed off the last three overs, Nitish Rana changed gears to dramatically put Mi in the driver’s seat, hitting a couple of fours and sixes off Trent Boult and Rajput each to bring up his fifty. The southpaw perished immediately after that, but by bringing the equation down to 19 off nine, the young lad had almost got his team to the finish line.
Hardik Pandya made sure they crossed it with some generosity from KKR in the last over, Suryakumar Yadav misfielding a ball for four and substitute Rishi Dhawan dropping Hardik with five to win off three. Hardik finished it with a four and ran towards his jumping teammates.
MI knew the importance of this win, for it came against a team that was red-hot. And it appeared that KKR began from where they lad left off in Rajkot, where they walloped Gujarat Lions by 10 wickets.
Chris Lynn was again in his elements, hitting comeback man Lasith Malinga for a four and a six in his first two overs as KKR raced to 44 in the first four overs. A repeat of Rajkot was on the cards, but Rohit Sharma’s move to bring in spin ensured MI didn’t suffer Lions’ fate.
Krunal Pandya removed Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa in his first over, and that put the brakes on KKR. Rohit recalled Jasprit Bumrah in the eighth over, and it paid off, with Lynn getting trapped before wicket. Manish Pandey’s 81* kept things steady at the other end, and his two sixes and two fours in the final over took KKR to 178/7. But as it turned out, it wasn’t enough.
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 "Nitish Rana, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Chris Lynn, Gautam Gambhir, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Mumbai Indians (MI), IPL 10,")
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