Friday, March 29, 2024

Kolkata Knight Riders bowl out Mumbai Indians for 152 as Russell takes five

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By PTI
CHENNAI: Andre Russell did a star turn coming to bowl in the 18th over as his career-best 5 for 15 helped Kolkata Knight Riders blow out Mumbai Indians for 152 in an Indian Premier League game on Tuesday.

Opting to bowl, Eoin Morgan’s astute captaincy was on full display as he used his resources to perfection to choke MI in the middle-overs after Suryakumar Yadav threatened to seize control with his 36-ball 56.

The World Cup-winning England skipper used Pat Cummins cleverly in the middle-overs as the Aussie returned with 2/24, but the masterstroke was certainly keeping Russell for the fag end as MI lost last seven wickets for 37 runs.

Russell was brought in only after Cummins finished his spell in the 16th over as the Jamaican used the platform to perfection by dismissing Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Rahul Chahar in the final four balls en route to his milestone.

But it was Shakib-Al-Hasan who deserves equal credit for stopping the run-flow as the Bangladesh left-arm spinner dismissed Suryakumar in the 11th over and changed the complexion of the innings.

Suryakumar was in the midst of a belter of an innings, smashing two sixes and seven fours to lift them from a sluggish start as MI looked in balance with 81/1 at midway stage.

He was on a roll against Prasidh Krishna, creaming the seamer for a six and followed it up for successive boundaries.

Suryakumar then launched into Pat Cummins for a 99-metre maximum that landed on the Chepauk roof to cruise to a 33-ball fifty, his 12th in IPL.

Before he could make it big, he holed out a skier to Shubman Gill at long-on.

And off the next ball, Cummins laid a perfect trap for Ishan Kishan with a bouncer which the diminutive left-hander pulled straight to square leg fielder.

As Prasidh leaked runs, the spin duo of Varun and Shakib managed to keep the duo of Rohit and Hardik quiet in the middle overs as they scored only 33 runs from 10-15 overs.

Looking for breakthrough, Morgan once again brought in his pace spearhead Cummins who lived up to his expectation cleaning up Rohit with an offcutter, and in the next over Prasidh dismissed Hardik to break MI’s backbone.

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