KKR made a winning start to their title defense and in some style too. Much to the delight of the home crowd, it was 5 Indian batsmen who chased down a challenging total of 168 with ease. A statement of intent from the Kolkata franchisee that they are not willing to let go of the title easily.
Having won the toss, Gambhir elected to field first on a pitch with a tinge of green. MI opted to leave out Lendl Simmons in favour of Finch with Pollard,Anderson and Malinga completing the overseas quota. KKR meanwhile went in with Shakib Al Hasan, Narine, Andre Russel and Morne Morkel.The MI squad did surprise as they opted for 5 specialist bowlers in addition to the two all rounders in Pollard and Anderson. In the end even then, MI couldnt defend what was a good total.
Aaron Finch played a bizzare shot quite early on to hold out in the deep, while Tare and Rayudu soon followed. At 37/3 it was left to Rohit Sharma and Anderson to steady things, especially with a weak batting line up.The Mumbai Indians skipper is a beast when it comes to the IPL and he played an outstanding knock of 98 from 65 balls as he powered his way through the Kolkata attack with some meaty blows. He missed out on a well deserved century, thanks in part to Corey Anderson who hit some fine shots of his own after making a tentative start. Morne Morkel exploited the surface brilliantly to complete his allocated quota of 4 overs on the trot to finish with impressive figures of 18/2.Shakib Al Hasan paid the price for Gambhir's gamble of keeping his 3 final overs past the 15th over. Sunil Narine looked uncomfortable with his remodelled action and wasn't much dangerous.MI amassed 109 runs in their final 10 overs and momentum seemed to be with them heading into the break.
KKR had other plans in mind though. Star player of last season,Robin Uthappa did hit a 6 but his stay was short lived falling to Corey Anderson in the slips.Gautam Gambhir played a captain's knock steadying the innings while the talented youngster Manish Pandey accelerated the scoring.The MI attacked looked toothless to be frank and KKR made a flying start to the chase. Suryakumar Yadav came in and played outstandingly well with some wristy shots to even overshadow the knock by Pandey. Even after Gambhir's dismissal, Yadav kept his cool along with Yusuf Pathan to guide KKR to an impressive victory.
Morne Morkel picked up the MoM award for his excellent spell in what was predicted to be a spinner's surface. MI have some thinking to do with regards to squad selection while KKR would want to handle Shakib much better next time around.
Having won the toss, Gambhir elected to field first on a pitch with a tinge of green. MI opted to leave out Lendl Simmons in favour of Finch with Pollard,Anderson and Malinga completing the overseas quota. KKR meanwhile went in with Shakib Al Hasan, Narine, Andre Russel and Morne Morkel.The MI squad did surprise as they opted for 5 specialist bowlers in addition to the two all rounders in Pollard and Anderson. In the end even then, MI couldnt defend what was a good total.
Aaron Finch played a bizzare shot quite early on to hold out in the deep, while Tare and Rayudu soon followed. At 37/3 it was left to Rohit Sharma and Anderson to steady things, especially with a weak batting line up.The Mumbai Indians skipper is a beast when it comes to the IPL and he played an outstanding knock of 98 from 65 balls as he powered his way through the Kolkata attack with some meaty blows. He missed out on a well deserved century, thanks in part to Corey Anderson who hit some fine shots of his own after making a tentative start. Morne Morkel exploited the surface brilliantly to complete his allocated quota of 4 overs on the trot to finish with impressive figures of 18/2.Shakib Al Hasan paid the price for Gambhir's gamble of keeping his 3 final overs past the 15th over. Sunil Narine looked uncomfortable with his remodelled action and wasn't much dangerous.MI amassed 109 runs in their final 10 overs and momentum seemed to be with them heading into the break.
KKR had other plans in mind though. Star player of last season,Robin Uthappa did hit a 6 but his stay was short lived falling to Corey Anderson in the slips.Gautam Gambhir played a captain's knock steadying the innings while the talented youngster Manish Pandey accelerated the scoring.The MI attacked looked toothless to be frank and KKR made a flying start to the chase. Suryakumar Yadav came in and played outstandingly well with some wristy shots to even overshadow the knock by Pandey. Even after Gambhir's dismissal, Yadav kept his cool along with Yusuf Pathan to guide KKR to an impressive victory.
Morne Morkel picked up the MoM award for his excellent spell in what was predicted to be a spinner's surface. MI have some thinking to do with regards to squad selection while KKR would want to handle Shakib much better next time around.
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