The Kolkata Knight Riders, dominant for most part of the match, choked at a critical moment to hand victory to the Mumbai Indians at Chennai’s Chepauk on Tuesday. MI won by 10 runs, turning around the match in the last 5 overs, to win their first in IPL 2021.

KKR were cruising at the end of the 15th over with Shakib Al Hasan and Dinesh Karthik in the middle. They needed 31 runs from 30 balls to reach the target of 153. They had six wickets in hand. Sure Jasprit Bumrah had two overs left. But Trent Boult had only one left and the other two would likely be bowled by Krunal Pandya and/or Marco Jensen. Cakewalk for KKR. 

And then, they crashed.

Shakib Al Hasan was dismissed by Krunal Pandya. Bumrah then managed to contain Karthik and Russell to 12 runs in his two overs. Kolkata needed 15 runs in the final over. Rohit Sharma handed the ball to Trent Boult.

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The Kiwi swing bowler brought all his experience to play, gave two singles and then first foxed Andre Russell into a caught and bowled. 14 runs needed in 3 balls. The next batsman – Pat Cummins – was sent off on a golden duck and Harbhajan Singh could manage only two runs in the end. Mumbai had won.

KKR skipper Eoin Morgan said in the post-match ceremony when he said that he “was not quite sure what happened”.

Rahul Chahar, man of the match for his career-best 4/27 said that he was thoroughly enjoying the pace and turn that Chennai’s black soil had to offer. The first words from MI captain Rohit Sharma were, “a great fight back,” as he spoke about how the entire team came together in the death overs.

“A perfect game needs to be bold, it came to cost us in the last 10 overs of the game.  We needed to bat around and complete the chase – not quite sure what happened. In the games that have been played so far, barring AB de Villiers in the chase, that seems to be telling a tale. We put ourselves in a good position to win today, but then not to win, that’s something we need to take care of,” Morgan said. 

This was Mumbai’s 22nd win over Kolkata. The Paltan will play Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday. Kolkata Knight Riders face Royal Challengers Bangalore in their next game.