Twitter Reactions: Mumbai Indians knock KKR out of the tournament to go top of the table

Mumbai Indians (MI) have climbed to the top of the table with a clinical win over the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede stadium. With this loss, the Dinesh Karthik-led side has been knocked out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) while this has also given a lifeline to the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) sensationally. They became the first team in the history of the IPL to qualify for the playoffs with just 12 wins.

Mumbai, on the other hand, have set up the first qualifier clash against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the two teams will renew their rivalry again at the Chepauk on Tuesday now. Delhi Capitals (DC) and SRH will fight it out in the eliminator on Wednesday in Vizag.

As far as the match is concerned, Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field as their opponents had a great chance to qualify for the playoffs. Chris Lynn and Shubman Gill opened the innings and the former started aggressively from the word go. By the end of the powerplay, KKR had posted 49 runs on the board at the expense of Gill’s wicket. Lynn was looking good while Robin Uthappa had just walked in.

Uthappa’s strange knock sucks the momentum out of the innings

However, the post-powerplay phase was strange for KKR and even for the spectators. The home side bowled really well but Uthappa couldn’t put bat to ball at one stage. His strange start to his knock sucked all the early momentum out of the innings. In the meantime, Lynn got out to Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik also was sent back soon for three runs off nine balls.

During this period, Uthappa was more on strike as he struggled rather failed to rotate the strike. He even played a maiden in the 11th over to everyone’s surprise. Andre Russell also bagged a golden duck thanks to the perfect strategy from Lasith Malinga as he bowled a well-directed bouncer coming round the wicket. The ball just brushed the Caribbean’s glove to literally end KKR’s hopes of posting a big total.

In the first six overs after the powerplay, KKR added only 16 runs for the loss of Lynn and they could never recover. Uthappa tried his best but it wasn’t his day and he just scraped through to 40 off 47 balls which took them to 133 runs after 20 overs and the score was never going to be enough.

Rohit and Surya shines

It was a cakewalk for MI in the chase as Quinton de Kock gave them a quickfire start while Rohit Sharma settled at the other end. Even after the South African’s wicket, the momentum didn’t stall for the hosts as Suryakumar came out and played some exquisite strokes. Most importantly for MI, their skipper Rohit Sharma slammed a half-century and remained unbeaten even as Surya finished the game with a six in the 17th over as KKR’s underwhelming season finally came to an end.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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