KKR beat MI by 18 runs to secure playoffs berth

Kolkata, May 11

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Kolkata Knight Riders entered the IPL playoffs with an 18-run victory over Mumbai Indians here today. The match was reduced to 16 overs a side contest after a late start due to rain.

Brief scores

• KKR: 157/7 in 16 overs (Venkatesh 42, Nitish 33; Chawla 2/28, Bumrah 2/39) vs MI: 139/8 in 16 overs (Ishan 40, Tilak 32; Chakravarthy 2/17, Harshit 2/34, Russell 2/34)

Friday’s result

• GT: 231/3 in 20 overs (Shubman 104, Sudharsan 103; Deshpande 2/33) vs CSK: 196/8 in 20 overs (Mitchell 63, Moeen 56; Mohit 3/31, Rashid 2/38)

Batting first in the rain-curtailed match, KKR scored 157/7. In reply, MI were stopped at 139/8.

Spinners Varun Chakaravarthy (2/17) and Sunil Narine (1/21) bowled beautifully in the middle overs after Ishan Kishan got MI off to a brisk start with a 22-ball 40. Tilak Varma smashed 32 in 17 balls, but he could not take his team over the line.

Earlier, Venkatesh Iyer top-scored with a 21-ball 42 while Rinku Singh (20 off 12 balls) and Andre Russell (24 off 14 balls) chipped in useful contributions as KKR crossed 150. Nitish Rana made 33 in 23 balls.

For MI, lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah bowled well to finish with figures of 2/39 in four overs and veteran spinner Piyush Chawla also took two wickets, giving away 28 runs in three overs.

“We batted first, knew it was sticky and that there was a bit for the spinners. Knew it was a good score with our spin attack. We knew there was a big boundary too and tried using it,” Russell said.