LIVE IPL: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians: Kolkata beat Mumbai by six wickets

Wednesday- 20:00 hours
Barabati Stadium, Cuttack

This was supposed to be a home game for Kolkata Knight Riders but security constraints have forced the relocation from Kolkata to Cuttack.

Both the teams are coming off with an impressive wins, KKR defeating the table toppers Kings XI Punjab while Mumbai Indians defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad. Both teams are in the same situation where they have to win every game to stay in the hunt for top 4.

After some slip ups, KKR hava manged to find a winning spree, the situation is same with their skipper Gautam Gambhir who had bad starts in the IPL is now refusing to give up scoring plenty of runs for his team, 3 half-centuries in succession for him. Middle order replacements might come in with either Shakib al Hasan or Ryan Doeschate getting a game. Yusuf Pathan needs to start performing, he is having a really bad season, KKR would defintely want him to start firing.

Mumbai after having few troubles with their starts, looks to have found a good openenr in form of Lendl Simmons, and with incoming of in-form Rohit Sharma they have done well. But they would want their explosive batsmen Pollard and Corey Anderson to provide acceleration late in the innings. With Simmons in form- Mr. Cricket, Michael Hussey might not be played again.

MI and KKR spin options will be at test, both Narine and Harbahajan have been ecnomical and have done well in containing the batsmen.

The last time these two teams met, KKR won the match comprehensively but Mumbai clearly hold an upper hand when it comes to head to head.

Head to Head
Played 13
KKR 3-10 MI

Last 5 games for both the teams

KKR- WWLLL
MI- WLWWL

Where they stand- KKR 4th- MI 7th 

 Welcome to the Live Coverage of the game between KKR and MI from Barabati Stadium in Cuttack

The news from the centre is that KKR have won the toss and they have elected to bowl first

KKR bring in Shakib for Kallis, Mumbai is unchaged 

Teams:

KKR- R. Uthappa (wk), G. Gambhir (c), M. Pandey, R. Doeschate, M. Pandey, S. Hasan, Y. Pathan, S. Yadav, P. Chawla, M. Morkel, U. Yadav, S. Narine

MI- L. Simmons, C. Gautma (wk), A. Rayudu, R. Sharma (c), K. Pollard, C. Anderson, A. Tare, H. Singh, L. Malinga, J. Bumrah, P. Ojha 

KKR going with Shakib instead of Kallis, opting for a spin all-rounder, seems like pitch might assist spinners here

 

#KKRvsMI.. Pollard v Narine could decide which way this game goes. #PepsiIPL — Utkarsh Shenvi (@imutkarsh48) May 14, 2014

 

 

Simmons and Gautam are in the middle, Morne Morkel will start the proceedings

Its PLAY ! 

Mumbai batting first win percentage is 55%, chasing win percentage is 61%

No run first ball back off length, defended by Simmons

Swings away, Morkel lands on good length, and it moves away to beat Gautam

Good first over, just 3 runs from it

Umesh Yadav to share the new ball

Good stuff from him again, shapes away as Gautam looks to drive, beats him

FOUR, drifting down the leg side, Gautam flicks it towards the fine leg boundary, ball races to beat the fielder

Bowled on middle, Gautam doesn't times it well towards deep midwicket, as it doesn't reach the fence, they pick 3 runs

MI 12/0 (2) Gautam 8*- Simmons 1*

Morkel .....

OUT, Gautma trying to make the room to play on the off-side, but hits it straight to Suryakumar Yadav at the cover, first wicket gone, Gautam departs at 8

Rayudu is the new batsman

No ball Morkel oversteps

Free Hit coming up

Short, way too short from Morkel, leg umpire calls it a WIDE, Morkel is unhappy so is his captain

Still Free Hit, Good yorker from Morkel, all they get is a single

SIX, full from Morkel, Rayudu picks it up over mid-on boundary, the ball just crosses the rope

Spin being introduced now, Shakib al Hasan

Ambati Rayudu's average in this IPL , while batting first: 24.07 and while batting second: 31.17

FOUR, WELCOME ! Full from Shakib and Simmons sweeps it away to the leg side boudary, as it beats the short fine leg

FOUR, same ball, same shot, same outcome

MI 32/1 (4) Simmons 11*- Rayudu 7* Run-rate: 8:00

Mystery Spinner, Narine comes in early

DROPPED, Rayudu goes for the slog sweep, gets a top edge, Shakib covers a mile, dives but couldn't get to it, though a good try, they take two runs

Shakib continues

OUT, BOWLED ! Simmons looks to go haywire, dances down the track, as the ball keeps it very low and hits the base of the leg stump, he goes for a dozen, well that was a blindfold shot from Simmons

In comes skipper Rohit Sharma at no.4

Don't spoil his birthday fellas !

come on kkr!! its my b'day today!!.. Give me my gift........ #KKR #PepsiIpl #KKRvsMI — Sankalp Puri (@sanks014) May 14, 2014

 

MI 37/2 (6) Rayudu 10*- Sharma 1* Run rate: 6.16

Fielding restrictions over

Umesh Yadav comes back into the attack

FOUR, fullish and Rayudu gives himself some room and drives it over mid-off for a boundary

1 run, slower delivery and Sharma nudges it towards the deep sqaure leg

Another spinner, Piyush Chawla inserted into the attack

No run flatter from the bowler, Sharma defends

Piyush Chawla has taken 16 wickets against Mumbai Indians, the most for him against any IPL team

MI 46/2 (8) Rayud 16*- Sharma 4*

Yusuf Pathan is the next change, KKR opting for slow bowlers here, Pathan playing his 100th IPL match today

FOUR, short outside off, Rayudu cuts and finds the gap between point and short third man, that 50 for Mumbai

Time Out

This has been a problem for Mumbai, they have struggled with their opening pairs and today also they lost two quick wickets early on, KKR applying pressure by using four spinners inside 10 overs

FOUR, short outside off, Rayudu cuts and finds the gap between point and short third man, that 50 for Mumbai

KKR continuing with spinners, Chawla and Shakib operating from both ends, run-rate have slowed down

MI 64/2 (11) Rayudu 28*- Sharma 10* Run-rate: 5.81

FOUR, Chawla drags it back, Rayudu camps back and steers it towards point boundary

OUT, INNINGS CUT SHORT ! The pressure and the slow run-rate have got better off Rayudu, he comes down and looks to smash it over the long on, doesn't get his timing correct, and is caught, he is out for 33

Anderson is the next man

Morkel comes back

DROPPED ! Yusuf Pathan drops a sitter at wide long-on, Sharma has a huge go and hits a skier, Pathan at long on boundary doesn't get hold off it, this is 100th game for Pathan, not going his way for sure

FOUR, Shorter from Morkel, Sharma goes for hook, couldn't control and it takes the top edge and goes to the fine leg fence

Time Out

MI 76/3 (13) Sharma 16*- Anderson 1* 

KKR fans are fuming

Cant bat, cant even take a catch!!! Why the hell is Yusuf Pathan in d team??? #Disgusting @KKRiders @iamsrk @iam_juhi #kkrvsmi #mivskkr @IPL — Manisha Gupta (@manisha__gupta) May 14, 2014

To add more to this, Yusuf Pathan has just take 1 wicket in his last 25 IPL games

Chawla into his last over

SIX, SMOKED ! Full and on middle, Anderson muscles away over the sight-screen

FOUR,  Quicker from Chawla, Anderson rocks back and belts it away to the cover boundary

FOUR, short again, this time Sharma creams it towards the point tegion for four, Chawla giving away gifts in his last over, 17 runs from it

Piyush Chawla has conceded 95 sixes and has taken 93 wickets in IPL

Rohit Sharma's strike rate against KKR is 146.47 , best in the IPL against any team (since 2011)

MI 99/3 (15) Anderson 18*- Sharma 22* Run rate:6.60

Morkel comes in

SIX, TIMING ! length delivery and Sharma clobbers it over the long-off for a maximum 

SIX, SMASHED ! another length ball and Sharma easily smahes it towards the cover boundary

OUT, PARTNERSHIP BROKEN ! Length ball on leg stump, Anderson hits this one straight to the filder at mid-wicket, soft dismissal, he goes for 18

Four overs to go, dangerman Pollard comes in

KKR's economy rate in last 5 overs in IP is 8.06, best for any team

FOUR, beautiful shot from Rohit Sharma, he is looking dangerous now, that was belter of a shot towards the covers

Shakib finishes his spell

MI 123/4 (17) Sharma 42*- Pollard 3*

Some positive stuff for KKR 

Shakib is surely an asset to the team. @kkriders @kkrofficial #KKRvsMI #PepsiIPL — Bushra Hussain (@bubblybushy) May 14, 2014

 

Narine into his third over

Though he hasn't picked any wicket but like usual has been very economical

MI 128/4 (18)

Umesh Yadav now

only singles ahve come till now, Yadav doing well to keep off the boundaries

FOUR, commentator curse, full toss on the off-side, Sharma punches that one hard at extra cover for four, that's his half-century

9 runs from the over

Narine to bowl the last over, what can Pollard do, he's been very quiet

OUT, crazy from captain, Sharma shuffles and looks to play the lap shot, balls beats the bat and hits on top of the off-stump, Sharma is down on the ground, no reaction from Narine, a well played innings of 51 comes to an end

Tare now

What an excellent last over from Narine, just 4 singles off it, Pollard playing 11 deliveries and no boundary for him

Narine completes the innings with his amazing spell 4-0-18-1

MI 141/5 in 20 overs

Well its difficult to say whether this total is sufficient for Mumbai or not, But all thanks to Rohit Sharma for guiding them till here after getting off to a slow start, though the pitch is definitely assisting the bowlers and espcecially the spinners, but Mumbai will have to bowl really well to defend this total. The ball is staying low, sticking on wicket so it might be difficult for Kolkata batsmen to score runs, Harbhajan and Ojha will hold the key.

Looks like an easy target for most of all but I bet you this is not as easy as looking. Ball Ruk Kur Aa Raha Hai @IPL #KKRvsMI #IPL — Deepak Sharma (@deepakbhlscr) May 14, 2014

 

 

Chase begins, as both KKR openers are out in middle, Gambhir and Uthappa. Malinga has the new ball

4 number of times KKR have failed to chase a score between 140-150 in six attempts

Malinga playing his last IPL game, before joining the Sri Lankan sqaud for their tour of England

Can't wait 2 watch #Malinga bowl his last match at the #PepsiIPL tonight #kkrvsmi Come on crack few wickets and leave in style :) — Anupam Raj Mathur (@AnupamRajMathur) May 14, 2014

FOUR, Uthappa was waiting,superb timing, full on middle and Uthappa carves it towards the midwicket

Malinga's strike rate against right handers: 18.12 and against left handers: 11.71 (sicne 2011 IPL) so he prefers bowling to left handed batsmen

Jasprit Bumrah to bowl the second over

FOUR, you can't bowl on pads at Gambhir, that's his strong zone, he just ickels that one to the fine leg boundary

KKR 13/0 (2) Gambhir 5*- Uthappa 6* Required rate 7.16

Harbhajan Singh being introduced very early, he'l be the key figure for Mumbai tonight

FOUR, Uthappa comes down the track and checks his shot at the last moment, he just manages to chip it over the leaping Malinga at mid-off 

Bumrah continues

FOUR, CRACKED ! full delivery, Uthappa uses his feet and stamps it straight past the bowler

FOUR, just back off a length and Uthappa chips it over the bowler, he loves going it straight

KKR 31/0 (4) Uthappa 21*- Gambhir 8* Req.rate 6.93

 

Ojha now, can he do the magic for Mumbai?

Ojha has dismissed Gambhir 5 times in 6 IPL innings, he is Gauti's nemesis

SIX, fuller length and Uthappa loves playing in that region, goes over the bowler once again, he is taking it now

Mumbai haven't been able to pick up early wickets and Kolkata is having no problems in facing both pacers and spin bowlers, and Uthappa is making this chase do in a hurry

Malinga comes back

No run, back off a length deliver, Gambhir defends

Outswinger, Uthappa gets beaten, lovely delivery from Malinga, shapes away, Uthappa is clueless as it pasts his bat

FOUR, OUTSIDE EDGE, cricket can be cruel, Malinga beating Uthappa once again, he gets an edge but no slips in position, ball races towards the third man boundary, poor captaincy from Sharma, if Malinga was getting all that swing, he should have placed a slip there

KKR 45/0 (6) Uthappa 32*- Gambhir 10* 

KKR require 97 runs from 84 balls

 

Amazing partenship between @GautamGambhir and @robbieuthappa Jeet bo.. #kkr #PepsiIPL2014 #PepsiIPL #kkrvsmi — Zack Obaid (@Zackobaid) May 14, 2014

 

Ojha's bowling average was 26.70 in 2011 IPL and in this year's edition it is 199.00

Bhajji is back

OUT, MUCH NEEDED BREAKTHROUGH FOR MUMBAI ! Short and wide, Gambhir looks to cut that one away, ball doesn't spin, he chops one that to the stumps, inform Gambhir gone for 14

Manish Pandey walks in at no. 3

KKR 53/1 (8) Uthappa 34*- Pandey 1*

89 required from 12 overs

Only KKR who looks like sailing to a comfortable victory now can lose a match. There is pessimism even in optimism in case of Kkr #KkrvsMi — Seonaidh Meems (@FiTeyaAL) May 14, 2014