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Cuttack: Robin Uthappa butchered 80 off 52 balls as KKR achieved easy chase against Mumbai Indians at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on Wednesday.
MI have been left with plenty to think about as the playoffs become an increasingly fading dream and more trouble with Malinga leaving for international duty,
Chasing a 142-run target, the hosts made sure they did not make heavy weather of the run-chase by building handy partnerships, and eventually, earning their team two valuable points as the race to the Playoffs picks up pace.
Yusuf Pathan then ensured KKR’s run-chase did not go off track. With Shakib Al Hasan for company, the middle-order batsman brought his team within striking range of the target. And while Lasith Malinga bagged Shakib’s (9) wicket in the 19th over, by then the hosts were just four runs shy of victory.
Yusuf (20*) finally took the Knight Riders over the line with a four off Malinga. As a result, KKR got home with six wickets in hand and eight balls to spare.
MI lost CM Gautam (8) in the third over off Morne Morkel; Lendl Simmons and Ambati Rayudu added 23 runs for the second wicket, Shakib Al Hasan drove a wedge in the blossoming partnership before it could turn dangerous. The left-arm spinner bowled Simmons (12) out in the sixth over. As a result, MI ended up at 37 for two after the powerplay.
Rayudu (33) then perished in the 12th over off the bowling of Piyush Chawla, who he was trying to slam out of the park. Rohit Sharma was then joined by Corey Anderson in the middle. The pair then took the MI score past the 100-run mark in the 16th over.
However, after plundering 16 off the first five balls of that over – bowled by Morkel – MI lost Anderson (18) off the last delivery. Rohit Sharma (51) then added another 23 runs with Kieron Pollard. However, the MI skipper was cleaned up by Sunil Narine in the final over shortly after he had brought up his half-century, the visitors could only manage 141 for five in 20 overs.
While Morkel picked up two wickets for the home team, Sunil Narine and Shakib Al Hasan – who claimed a scalp each – boasted a sub-six economy-rate.
Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders have won the toss and have opted to field in IPL 7 match no. 70 with one change -- Shakib Al Hasan in for Jacques Kallis, MI was unchanged.
Teams
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (Capt.), Shakib Al Hasan, Manish Pandey, Morne Morkel, Piyush Chawla, Robin Uthappa (wk), Ryan ten Doeschate, Sunil Narine, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Yusuf Pathan
Mumbai Indians: Aditya Tare, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Chidhambaram Gautam (wk), Corey Anderson, Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Lendl Simmons, Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan Singh
Brief scores
Mumbai Indians - 141/5 (Sharma 51, Rayudu 33)
Kolkata Knight Riders - 142/4 (Uthappa 80)
Result - Kolkata Knight Riders won by 6 wickets
Points - Kolkata Knight Riders 2, Mumbai Indians 0
