IPL 2020: Match 32 – KKR vs MI – Who Said What

The 32nd match of the Indian Premier League took place between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. The defending champions, MI, effortlessly won the match by eight wickets. KKR came up with the bat first and posted ordinary 148 on the board. Their start looked much ordinary before heroics by Pat Cummins (53* off 36), and new skipper Eoin Morgan (39* off 29) began towards the end of their innings.

Quinton de Kock was named as the player of the match for his splendid match-winning knock. Apart from Cummins and Morgan, young Shubman Gill added 21 runs from his end in his brief innings. Rahul Chahar stunned KKR batsmen with his dangerous spell as he conceded just 18 runs in four overs to pick two wickets.

Hunting down the easy target in Abu Dhabi, MI openers Rohit Sharma (35 off 36) and Quinton de Kock (78* off 44) flagged of their chase excellently. Hardik Pandya did his usual stuff and added quick 21* runs off 11 balls to bring victory for Mumbai. Varun Chakravarthy did a decent job with the ball as he conceded only 23 runs off his spell to pick one wicket for Kolkata.

Winning skipper, Rohit Sharma said

It is special to win as comprehensively as this when chasing. It gives us confidence. I guess now teams batting second will win most of the games. That’s what I feel. The trend is changing. It is always a challenge when you have won four in four. How you turn up is what matters. We turned up really well, and right from ball one we were in their faces.

I am a big fan of match-ups. read them well, and decide whom to exploit when. Having said that, you have to read the pitch and be instinctive too. I still bowled Rahul and Krunal to Russell because the pitch was holding up a little bit. Then I brought on Bumrah. I enjoy batting with Quinton. He is straightforward. Most of the times I take the back seat. I have a role to play in the squad. I need to let Quinny bat free and not worry about what the team needs from him.

Losing skipper, Eoin Morgan said

We weren’t in the race at all really, being four or five down. Managed to get a score on the board but when Mumbai play like that, they are hard to stop. Guys fought hard but just not enough runs on the board. No.4, 5 and 6 we have lot of experience. We’re trying to adapt according to the situations. Don’t think it would have made much difference today.

Player of the match, Quinton de Kock said

Those leg-side shots are just one of the shots I have in my armoury. I don’t plan to do that, it is just natural. It is just about keeping my balance and playing them as I see them. Last game I was disappointed I didn’t finish the game. Mahela had a couple of words with us. So I had to rectify that. Mahela can come hard at you if you do something ordinary. Ja to be honest I have played this game enough to know you can’t do anything about it if you drop one. You have to carry on and do the best for your team. I am a better keeper than that, and don’t drop catches on purpose so that is nothing to worry about.