We have the first team of the playoffs - KKR!
Kolkata Knight Riders 157 for 7 (Venkatesh 42, Rana 33, Chawla 2-28, Bumrah 2-39) beat Mumbai Indians 139 for 8 (Kishan 40, Tilak 32, Chakravarthy 2-17, Russell 2-34, Harshit 2-34) by 18 runs
On an evening that started with the ball swinging around like a boomerang following plenty of rain in Kolkata, Kolkata Knight Riders' spin twins - Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine - stifled Mumbai Indians' chase to seal a playoffs berth for their side, with an almost-certain finish in the top two as well.
After MI were set 158 overs in 16 overs, Chakravarthy and Narine started the strangle that saw MI score just 22 runs in the five overs after the powerplay for two wickets that mounted the pressure on the visitors.
Suryakumar Yadav and Tim David had no choice but to go after the quicks and fell to Andre Russell's variations that saw MI stumble to 92 for 5 and there was no coming back from there, barring a late cameo from Tilak Varma. He reduced the equation to 22 required from the six balls, but his wicket early in the last over eventually handed MI their ninth loss in 13 matches.
After rain had delayed the start of the game by an hour and 45 minutes, the match was reduced to 16 overs a side. Even though KKR lost their openers early, Venkatesh Iyer and some lower-order hitting powered them to 157, which may have seemed short early on but proved to be enough.
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Tilak keeps MI's flame burning
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From 57 required off 18, Tilak Varma has brought it down to 22 off the last over. It was the 14th over that turned the tide (kind of) in which Tilak hammered 16 runs off Harshit Rana. Naman Dhir takes some inspiration and slams Dre Russ for two sixes in the next over that goes for even more - 19.
MI now need 22 off the last six balls with not Tilak Varma, but Naman Dhir on strike.
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SKY fall (to the spin strangle)
If Narine and Salt have the power at the top while batting, Narine and Chakravarthy have the capability to suck all the power out of the opposition.
Narine has been had to score off since his first over ended, Chakravarthy has been largely bowling stump to stump and both have been bowling to their fields to tighten the noose around MI's batters. They bowled five overs on the trot since the powerplay (five overs today) 22 runs and two wickets.
The pressure mounted, the wheels came off and Russell also struck after that with the wickets of Suryakumar and Tim David because if they couldn't go after the spinners, they had to target every other bowler with the asking rate nearly 13 after 10 overs were done.
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The spin twins strike!
Exactly six balls after Kishan's dismissal, Rohit's scratchy show comes to an end. He wasn't abe to pick the gaps, not able to connect how he wants to, and soon after missing a reverse sweep against Varun Chakravarthy, he goes for a more conventional sweep but doesn't connect well again, and hands the simplest of catches to Narine at short fine leg.
MI have scored just 17 runs in the four overs since the powerplay (end of the fifth over).
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Narine strikes but MI are racing away
Rohit Sharma is not even scoring at run a ball but MI are 65 for 1 after seven. That's because Ishan Kishan has done the damage even though he has departed for 40 off 22.
He flat-batted plenty of strokes square on either side of the wicket, not hitting a single big stroke down the ground. He was brutal against the fast bowlers but showed some caution once the spinners came on, and the holed out in Narine's second over.
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When Narine's first over goes for 13...
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Look who's here...
The breakout star of WPL 2023!
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It ain't over till it's over...
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It's Vaibhav Arora bowling probably with a damp ball and it feels like he has been bowling since yesterday but this over ain't over yet.
The first extra in that sequence were five runs that went nearly through where second slip stands and it was called a no-ball because the delivery landed well wide of the cut strip (in which case it's a no-ball). That was followed by another wide delivery outside off, and then a full toss which looked like was near waist height but Rohit wasn't standing straight and his review showed that it wasn't a no-ball (phew, KKR). But he came back well to finish with just two runs off the last four legal balls of the over and MI reached 31 for 0 after three overs with 14 from that over.
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The big match-up: Rohit vs Narine
Rohit Sharma comes in as an Impact Player, as expected, and he will open with Ishan Kishan, also as expected. The big match-up to watch out early on is, again as expected, Rohit vs Narine (in all T20s): 187 off 174 with 10 dismissals. The most head-to-head dismissals in all T20s is also 10, this one tied with Dwayne Bravo to Kieron Pollard, the two friends from T&T.
How soon will Narine be introduced? Let's get the chase started...
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KKR finish on 157 for 7
A flurry of yorkers to end the innings, first from Thushara in the penultimate over and then from Bumrah in the ultimate. Thushara first gave away 11, which isn't too bad, because it saw just one boundary. And then Bumrah dismissed Rinku Singh with pace variation in another tight over until Ramandeep Singh smacked the last ball of the six to make it 10 off the over. Bumrah gets the purple cap back, having briefly lost it to Harshal Patel.
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Chawla bowls at 116.8kmh to snare Russell
And Chawla wins the battle against Russell!
After yet another frugal over in between from Bumrah that also saw Nitish Rana dismissed, Chawla returns for the 13th and bowls just two balls to Russell in the over. The first is slog swept for one and the other - the last of the over - Chawla sends down at 116.8kmh, it's a short ball too for which Russell rocks back. Dre Russ goes for the pull and skies that one high on the leg side which Anshul Kamboj settles under. Chawla lofts his arms in celebration because he has silenced the Kolkata crowd.
Chawla has the last laugh and KKR are 125 for 6 after 13. In a bit of a trouble with three overs to go. Rinku Singh still out there. Bumrah can bowl one more (any one bowler can bowl four).
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Now Russell vs Chawla
Russell had barely walked in and he had clubbed Chawla for six over long-on and then creamed him through the covers for four on the last ball of the ninth over. Two overs later, as soon as Russell gets strike against Chawla, he smashes the ball over the bowler's head because it was pitched up.
And now Chawla takes his time to set the field, moving almost half the fielders around and finishing with a fielder very straight down the ground along with a long-on. Chawla then bowls two more times to Russell in the over - one very flat on the stumps for a single and the other a wide medium pace kind of delivery after Russell charged down. Proper cat and mouse game which may not have ended if Russell keeps batting.
KKR 106 for 4 after 11, here comes Bumrah.
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First ball of spin strikes...
The first eight overs fetched KKR 77 for 3, all off fast bowling of which the most economical was Anshul Kamboj's 3-0-24-1. Venkatesh Iyer has been batting nicely and with aggressive intent; charging down the ground, rocking back to pull the short ball and picking the gaps.
He does't change his approach as soon as a spinner comes on, Piyush Chawla. Venkatesh smashes the ball down the ground but Chawla is bowling on a slightly bigger ground than the Wankhede and loves the fact that it's taken at long-off. Venkatesh gone for 42 off 21, his job is done. Dre Russ joins Nitish Rana.
KKR 77 for 4 after 8.1.
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It's Venkatesh vs Bumrah
There wasn't a whole lot to that match-up before today - 19 off 22 with two dismissals - and Venkatesh has turned tables in one eventful over. But even before he took strike against Bumrah in the fourth over, Venkatesh gets hit on his leg at the keeper's end by a rocket throw from backward point while pinching a quick single. He's on the ground, he's grimacing in pain, he gets some treatment quickly and he's back on his feet. And he immediately dances down next ball to drive on the up but the edge goes back and just evades a leaping SKY at first slip.
The next ball he times this flick so well that the half volley has sailed over the midwicket boundary in no time! Another charge down the ground at the end of the over and it's 15 runs off the over.
Bumrah vs Venkatesh today: 14 off five with two 4s and a 6, SR 280.
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What happened there? (Apart from Bumrah's genius)
A brain fade? Loss of concentration? A work of genius from Bumrah?
Call it what you may, Bumrah steamed in and delivered a yorker first up just outside off. Narine probably thought it would continue to go away with the angle and shouldered arms only to see the ball tail in just enough to rattle the base of off stump. Narine is flabbergasted, the Kolkata fans' jaws have dropped so much you can stuff 10 puchkas in there. Narine gone for a golden duck, KKR 10 for 2.
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What are the revised playing conditions?
- It's now a 16 overs a side, having started at 9.15pm local time
- The powerplay has been reduced to the first five overs
- One bowler can bowl four overs maximum
- Four bowlers can bowl three overs each maximum
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Rohit among impact subs; Rana comes in for KKR
No surprises at all that the team winning the toss will bowl and like to chase a set target. It's Hardik Pandya who called it right. He says it's the same team, so they stick to playing with just two overseas players.
Despite the toss, the good news for KKR is Nitish Rana is fit after a lengthy absence. He comes in for Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who is among the Impact subs though, along with Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
MI's impact options are Rohit Sharma, Shams Mulani, Shivalik Sharma, Mohammad Nabi and Kartikeya Singh.
So we will see Sunl Narine and Phil Salt walking out soon. And what a season Narine is having, set to become the first player ever to achieve the double of 500 runs and 15 wickets in an IPL season. Here's some stats analysis of all that and more from S Rajesh.
KKR XI: 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Venkatesh Iyer, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Rinku Singh, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Harshit Rana
MI XI: 1 Naman Dhir, 2 Ishan Kishan, 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Nehal Wadhera, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Tim David, 8 Anshul Kamboj, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Nuwan Thushara
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Some good news and some bad news
The bad news is the Eden Gardens is covered. The good news is it's stopped raining as of now, about 20 minutes before the coin is flipped in Kolkata. This game doesn't have all that much at stake, like last night which was a repeat of the IPL 2023 final, but there's still lots to look forward to - KKR can pretty much seal a top-two finish tonight (all that and more in the scenarios piece here), MI could try out some new players (like giving a debut to Anshul Kamboj vs SRH), some of the World Cup players will be itching to get into or stretch their form. Here's all that and more in the match preview right here.
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