IPL 2018, KKR vs MI: Hits and Misses
Kolkata Knight Riders faced Mumbai Indians for the second time in three days. The hosts, KKR won the toss and inserted MI into bat first. Mumbai who won the previous encounter between the two sides were off to a sedate start as they reached 62/2 in 9 overs.
But the arrival of Ishan Kishan completely changed the complexion of the game. The 19-year-old wicket-keeper batsman smashed a 21-ball 62 striking 5 fours and 6 sixes and took MI’s score from 62 to 145 in the span of 6 overs. Camoes from Hardik Pandya and Ben Cutting helped MI go past the 200-mark and finish with a flourish.
Chasing 211, KKR were off to a bad start as they lost Sunil Narine off the second ball of the innings. Chris Lynn looked good for a big innings but was run out for 21. And since then KKR kept losing wickets at regular intervals and never looked like they were in the chase. Eventually, they slipped to 108 all out and slumped to a massive defeat.
#5 Hit: Ben Cutting
Ben Cutting hasn’t had a lot to do in this IPL. He hasn’t really got the opportunity to show his worth with both bat and ball. Before this game, Cutting batted in just 2 innings (and faced just 15 deliveries) out of the 5 games he played and also didn’t finish his quota in even one game.
However, in this game, the Australian all-rounder got to bat at No. 6 ahead of JP Duminy and Krunal Pandya. He walked out in the 19th over and struck his first ball for six. He then hit two sixes and one four in the last over to give help MI finish with a flourish. MI had done really well to recover from a sedate start and it was important to continue that momentum. Hence, Cutting’s 9-ball 24 was an important knock.
The 31-year-old Queenslander then took an excellent catch to dismiss Nitish Rana and also took a wicket at the fag end of the chase.