Umesh Yadav reckons getting Parthiv early will be the key

Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Umesh Yadav feels that getting rid of Mumbai Indians opener Parthiv Patel will be the key to winning the second Qualifier on Friday. The Knight Riders eliminated defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator to keep their hopes of making it to the final alive. On the other hand, table toppers Mumbai Indians were humbled by a potent Rising Pune Supergiant bowling attack in the first Qualifier.

Mumbai clearly have the edge over KKR when it comes to head-to-head records. MI lead 15-5 across seasons, but the Knight Riders will back themselves to defeat them. Inform speedster Umesh Yadav shared that KKR have found a definitive trend in Mumbai’s gameplan, and will look to halt them early on.

Dependence on Parthiv

“Mumbai Indians’ batting is heavily dependent on how Parthiv Patel fires at the top. In matches, when Parthiv failed, their middle order struggled. He is their highest run-scorer and even though they have batsmen like Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard, it is Parthiv who holds the innings together,” Umesh said ahead of the Qualifier 2 in Bengaluru.

“Parthiv is the silent operator and often gives them a good start by batting for the entire duration of the Powerplay. It gives the others like Pollard the freedom to express themselves. So it is important that we take the wicket of Parthiv early and break their rhythm right at the start,” he added.

Both two-time champions will lock horns at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, where Kolkata knocked out the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a rain-curtailed game a couple of days ago. KKR did extremely well to restrict a batting-heavy SRH side to just 128 in the first innings. However, as rain interrupted play, the Knight Riders’ target was readjusted to 48 in 6 overs. Despite a cluster of wickets at the top, skipper Gautam Gambhir saw his side home with a few balls to spare.

“The pressure was on us when we lost a few quick wickets. Had we lost another batsman, no one knew how things would have panned out. All the efforts of the bowlers might have gone to waste. But Gautambhai showed maturity. Hopefully, the batsmen will show more responsibility tomorrow,” Umesh pointed out.

The rain delay

As rain halted the game for over 3 hours, the Eliminator finally ended at 1:27 am. MI will have a slight disadvantage in terms of the rest they got since KKR only had a day in between the Eliminator and the second Qualifier. Umesh, however, was confident that the team had recovered well and was raring to go on Friday.

“It was for the first time that a match ended so late. By the time we reached our hotel, it was 3 am. But when you are playing the IPL, you have to be prepared for any eventualities. We are relieved to finish as the winning side and it has given us the momentum and confidence. I won’t say that we will be absolutely fresh but we hope to recover for Friday’s game,” Yadav concluded.