IPL 10, Qualifier 2, MI v KKR Review: Karn Sharma, Krunal Pandya help MI thrash KKR to qualify for 4th final

Mumbai Indians defeated Kolkata Knight Riders for the 16th time in the history of the tournament by 6 wickets to qualify for the final of IPL 10 and will yet again meet Rising Pune Supergiant in the final to be played on Sunday, 21st May. The Mumbai bowlers were exceptional with Karn Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah reaping the rewards with 4 and 3 wickets respectively. The Kolkata batsmen kept on losing wickets at regular intervals which cost them badly.

Mumbai stuttered in the beginning of their chase losing 3 wickets for nothing much. Piyush Chawla was bowling brilliantly and it was left to Krunal Pandya who remained unbeaten on 45 to seal the deal for Mumbai. Rohit Sharma also batted sensibly as MI eventually chased the total down with 5.3 overs left.

Winning the toss Rohit Sharma opted to field which has been the preferred choice of most of the captains in the tournament. Australian hard-hitter Chris Lynn and Caribbean superstar Sunil Narine walked out in the middle to begin proceedings. After a brilliant first over by left-arm pacer Mitchell Johnson who replaced the injured Mitchell McCleneghan, Jasprit Bumrah provided MI with the first breakthrough in the form of Chris Lynn’s wicket.

It was a huge wicket given Lynn’s reputation to smash the big shots at will. The Aussie lad went for a big shot but was holed out in the mid on region by Kieron Pollard. With a safe pair of hands, he wasn’t going to drop that. Sunil Narine struck the first six of the match of the bowling of Lasith Malinga in the 4th over by flicking him over the deep mid-wicket boundary for a six.

Leggie Karn Sharma who was preferred ahead of Harbhajan Singh yet again did his reputation no harm by removing the dangerous Sunil Narine in his opening over. It was a well tossed up googly and Narine came dancing down the track to smash it over his head. Instead, he missed it altogether and Parthiv Patel stationed behind the stumps completed the formality.

The biggest wicket came in the final over of the powerplay as Jasprit Bumrah sent back Robin Uthappa with a short of length delivery which skidded on after pitching. The ball thudded on to his pads and the umpire had no hesitation in ruling it in favour of the bowling team. Karn bowled a sensational 7th over where he removed the rival captain Gautam Gambhir and all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme to reduce KKR to 31/5 at the end of 7 overs.

Ishank Jaggi and Suryakumar Yadav came into the crease to resurrect the innings and they were successful in doing so. KKR didn’t lose a wicket in the next 3 overs and struggled their way to 43/5 in 10 overs. Suryakumar Yadav finally struck a six of Hardik Pandya in the first delivery of the 11th over and followed it up with a few more boundaries in the next couple of overs. Meanwhile, Ishank Jaggi was also playing well and looked set to take KKR to a competitive total.

They kept on rotating the strike which kept the scoreboard ticking. Jaggi smashed 3 fours during his innings of 28 of 31 deliveries before falling to Karn Sharma in the final delivery of the 15th over. It again opened the floodgates for Mumbai and they cashed in by taking wickets at regular intervals.

Coulter-Nile smashed a six before falling off the next delivery to Mitchell Johnson. They were eventually bundled out for 107 in 18.5 overs. It was a great day in the office for Karn Sharma who finished with an exceptional spell of 4/16 to go with Jasprit Bumrah’s 3 wicket haul conceding only 7 runs.

Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons walked out in the middle in pursuit of a modest total but were pegged back early with the wicket of Simmons in the 2nd over of Piyush Chawla. It was a well-directed wrong un which struck him right in front. The umpire ruled it in favour of the bowling team despite the replays showing that the ball would have missed the leg stump.

Parthiv struck two exquisite fours off Umesh Yadav in the 3rd over but the fast bowler had the last laugh by removing him in the final delivery of the over. He flashed at it and got an outside edge which was gobbled by Robin Uthappa behind the stumps. Leggie Piyush Chawla bagged his 2nd wicket in the 4th delivery of the 6th over as he breached Ambati Rayudu’s defence with a beautiful wrong un.

Krunal Pandya and Rohit Sharma joined hands to resurrect the chase after the loss of 3 quick wickets. The duo kept on rotating the strike and smashed the occasional boundaries in between. Piyush Chawla was smashed for 16 runs in the 11th over which tilted the scales totally in favour of Mumbai.

Krunal was there until the end despite the fall of Rohit’s wicket and struck 7 fours during his match-winning innings. The target was eventually achieved in the 15th over as the southpaw smashed Umesh Yadav for a boundary down the ground.

Brief Scores

Kolkata Knight Riders 107 all-out in 18.5 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 31, Karn Sharma 4/16, Jasprit Bumrah 3/7)

Mumbai Indians 111/4 in 14.3 overs (Krunal Pandya 45*, Piyush Chawla 2/34)

Mumbai Indians by 6 wickets (with 5.3 overs to spare)

Here is the scorecard here