IPL 2022: Cummins and Venkatesh Iyer star in Kolkata’s 52-run victory over Mumbai

His wicket opened the floodgates with Cummins getting two more wickets of Daniel Sams and Murugan Ashwin to reduce Mumbai to 102/ 7 from 83/3. But what ensured after that was more of a comedy of errors with Pollard getting run out after dropped and Jasprit Bumrah getting run out. For Mumbai, the wickets have been falling in heaps, the last three falling in a space of four balls.

Brilliant start

The story was the same even when Kolkata batter with Bumrah claiming five wickets in a space of two overs after breathing fire, showing glimpses of his past when he terrorised the batters across the world. But thanks to a brilliant start by Venkatesh Iyer, who returned to the squad after missing the last few games.

Rohti Sharma, like Rishabh Pant, gave the match on a platter to Kolkata. After winning the toss, the Mumbai skipper elected to bowl first, something like what Pant had done on the same ground a day earlier. And both captains paid the price for their decisions.

Taking full advantage of the fresh wicket and the new ball, Kolkata raced to 87 in the first 10 overs, and the majority of those runs coming from the bat of Venkatesh Iyer and followed by Nitish Rana. When Rana, Andre Russell and Sheldon Jackson left in one over, things were not looking good for Kolkata, who finished at below par score of 165/9.

But the early wicket of Rohit Sharma gave the Knight Riders the confidence, and with the wicket slowing down considerably, Russell made amends for his lack of runs with a couple of wickets and then Cummins with three wickets delivered the knockout punch.

The victory has given Kolkata a fresh lease of life and look the team that reached the final of the last season. They need to continue in the same fashion to make the playoffs, which is increasingly becoming tough.

How it happened

Cummins’ three wickets in one over floors Mumbai

Kishan once again has let his team down, time and again showing his inexperience. After going for a record bid, the left-handed opener, after crossing his half-century, should have held one end up. That was not to be. In trying to go after Cummins again, from where he left off in his second over, Kishan top-edged the pull from outside the off stump to Rinku Singh, who hardly misses these chances. The Australian pacer struck again to dismiss Sams and then Murugan Ashwin. Pollard has to bat with the tail after being reduced to 102/7 after 15 overs, losing four wickets for 19 runs.

Russell strikes, but David has other ideas

Russell is the knight in shining armour for Kolkata. Whenever the chips are down, the West Indian all-rounder comes up with an impressive performance, be it with the bat or the ball. Dre Russ, as he is known as, broke the budding partnership of Ramandeep and Kishan. Tim David knows only one way to play, muscle the ball to different parts of the park, which he has done by hitting a hat-trick fours in his first three balls. Will he be able to do it for a longer period, will have to wait and watch. After 11 overs, Mumbai are 81/3.

Mumbai batters need to adopt a cool approach

Things are getting difficult for Mumbai, but still they should ensure that they don’t panic. This pair had to develop a partnership and try to take it as deep as they can before they could increase the tempo. After 9 overs, Mumbai are 58/2, with Kishan on 33. Kolkata were 78/1 at the same stage.

Spin duo keeping Mumbai batters in check

Mumbai might have restricted KKR to under 170, but the poor start has slowly making their task difficult. Shreyas Iyer, just like Rohit Sharma who brought in Bumrah to peg back Kolkata when they were ready to explode, Shreyas is employing a double-spin attack of Narine and Chakravarthy. Still the ball is not misbehaving due to the shine, but the mystery spinners would have been far more effective a few overs down the line. After 8 overs, Mumbai are 51/2, the required run rate going over 9.5 runs an over.

Kishan takes the fight to the opposition

Despite the loss of skipper Rohit, Ishan Kishan has been keeping Mumbai in their chase, making most of the wayward Cummins. But Dre Russ has struck again, removing the young Tilak Varma. The left-handed opener will have a bigger role to play as the team is without Suryakumar Yadav and with the ball not coming on to the wicket nicely, it is important one set batter stays till the end. His wicket will expose the weak middle order. After 5 overs, Mumbai are 32/2.

Mumbai get off to bad start, losing Rohit Sharma

Certainly not the start Mumbai wanted, chasing an tricky total. Southee strikes in the first to extend Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma’s misery this season. The talented opener showed glimpses of his sublime touch in the previous game, but a faint edge while playing his short-arm pull. But wicketkeeper Jackson was confident and the referral proved that Rohit had actually nicked the ball. After 3 overs, Mumbai are 16/1. Nothing flashy, a commonsense approach is the need of the hour.

Kolkata's middle order fails

Jasprit Bumrah’s five-wicket haul negated all the gains that Kolkata Knight Riders made earlier in the game to finish at under-par 165 for nine against Mumbai Indians in Match 56 of the Indian Premier League at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.

Kolkata made five changes in their must-win clash and once again the tried and tested pair of Venkatesh Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane put on a 60-run opening partnership, that was sorely missing in the last several games for the last year’s finalists.

However, when the platform was set, one expected the Kolkata middle order to fire and take them past the 180-run mark, which would have been a challenging total on a wicket where the ball is bouncing and turning and not giving too many opportunities for the batters to start scoring immediately.

Just when Kolkata were ready to shift gears, Bumrah reproduced a brilliant spell, claiming the wickets of set Nitish Rana and the dangerous Dre Russ and followed it up with three wickets in the next over to finish with 5/10 in his four overs. He had consistently clocked in excess of 140kmph to extract the extra that his whippy action would get on any wicket.

Kolkata have fell way short of their target, but need to come out strong and get the early wickets before the spin duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. The loss would mean Kolkata will be out of the reckoning for the playoffs.

Bumrah on fire with five-wicket haul

Bumrah on fire. The Mumbai Indians’ strike bowler has been like a dormant volcano until he erupted with a five-wicket haul, decimating Kolkata batting. A triple-wicket maiden has left KKR at 156/8.

Bumrah strikes two blows at crucial stage

Two wickets in two overs of Russell and Rana has pushed Kolkata on the backfoot. Russell loses the battle with Bumrah, holing out to Pollart at long on, while the pacer forces the left-hander to nudge a short ball into the hands of Kishan. Bumrah’s twin strike could not have come at a better time as the last five overs could have cost Mumbai more if these two batters had stayed till the end. After 15 overs, KKR are 140/5.

Spin, bounce and wicket will make Kolkata happy and sad

Nitish Rana now to play a big role in taking the Kolkata to a good score after Shreyas Iyer’s eight-ball stay ended by a vicious leg-spin from Murugan Ashwin to clip the gloves on way to Kishan. Though it is disappointing to see the skipper back, Kolkata players, especially the two spinners, will be happy with what they saw. Dre Russ will have to play another blinder and take team past 170-run mark, which will be the par score.

Karthikeya spins the web with Rahane’s wicket

Karthikeya struck again to get rid of Rahanae. The wrist spinner tossed the ball up when he saw Rahane trying to play the reverse sweep, which hit the top of the off stump. Skipper Shreyas Iyer comes at a stage it well set for him to take it higher. Rana and Shreyas have a big task of breaking Mumbai’s shackles, which Rana did with elan, hitting two sixes to take KKR past the 100-rum mark after 11 overs.

Mumbai keep Kolkata batters in check

Mumbai have pulled back Kolkata after the loss of Venkatesh Iyer’s wicket. The ball is spinning and bouncing and both Rahane and Rana have not scored more than six runs since then. After 9 overs, Kolkata are 78/1, scoring 14 runs in 3 overs.

Venkatesh Iyer’s attacking knock ends

Finally Venkatesh Iyer must be heaving a sigh of relief. The left-hander found his rang of shots and as before giving Kolkata the brisk start before giving away his wicket. Venkatesh chanced his arm too many and paid the price. Like Rishabh Pant yesterday, Mumbai might have played into the hands of Kolkata. Batting first on the same pitch, Chennai made a huge total and Kolkata look to repeat the same feat. After the powerplay 6 overs, KKR are 64/1 with Venkatesh Iyer out for 43 and Rahane batting on 9.

Solid start for Kolkata

For the first time in many match, there are many positives for Kolkata at the start of the innings. Venkatesh Iyer, who was the Purple jerseys’ top run-scorer during the UAE leg, is timing the ball well and is playing more freely, the hallmark of his knocks last season. Ajinkya Rahane, who has not played for the last few games, will provide the much-needed stability to the innings. After 3 overs, KKR are 26/0.

Mumbai win toss and elect to field

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma wins the toss and elects to field first. Ramandeep Singh replaces the injured Suryakumar Yadav, while Kolkata have made five changes to the team that suffered a 75-run loss to Lucknow Super Giants. Ajinkya Rahane, Venkatesh Iyer, Sheldon Jackson, Pat Cummins and Varun Chakravarthy have come in place of Shivam Mavi, Anukul Roy, Aaron Finch, Baba Indrajith and Harshit Rana.

Suryakumar out of IPL 2022

Dubai: Five-time champions Mumbai Indians suffered a major blow before the start of the Match 56 against Kolkata Knight Riders when in-form batter Suryakumar Yadav was ruled out for the reminder of the Indian Premier League.

“Mumbai Indians batter Suryakumar Yadav has been ruled out of the TATA IPL 2022 owing to a left forearm muscle injury. Mr. Yadav sustained the injury during the team’s fixture against Gujarat Titans on 6th May, 2022,” said a BCCI statement on Monday.

Suryakumar played eight matches this season for the Mumbai Indians scoring 303 runs at an average of 43.29 that included three half centuries.

However, it should provide Mumbai Indians a chance to try an youngster as the MIPaltans are out of the reckoning for the playoffs. However, Kolkata must win the clash at the DY Patil Stadium to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Sore point for Indians

Mumbai Indians, after suffering nine successive losses, found their winning touch against Rajasthan Royals and followed it up with the same result against Gujarat Titans. Skipper Rohit Sharma showed semblance of his form before getting dismissed while playing a reverse sweep. With Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma and Tim David all among the runs, however Kieron Pollard’s lack of runs will still be a sore point for the Indians.

But the bowling wears a thin look and rely heavily on Jasprit Bumrah to give them the breakthroughs. The former world No 1 pacer will be able to make early inroads against an unsettled Kolkata opening pair. Australian captain Aaron Finch is completely off colour and the manner in which the Knight Riders succumbed to Lucknow Super Giants should act as a dampener when they take the field in a must-win clash.

Facing the five-time champions at their home conditions have never been easy in the past and it is not the best time for Kolkata to take on Mumbai, who have now returned to the winning ways.

With nothing to lose, Mumbai will throw the kitchen sink at Kolkata, which the current runners-up will find it too hot to handle.