KKR Start Morgan Era With Loss, Go Down to MI Courtesy de Kock
Eoin Morgan’s Kolkata Knight Riders slumped to an 8-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians.
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It wasn’t the start that Eoin Morgan would have been hoping for in his first game as skipper. Replacing Dinesh Karthik at the helm, Morgan and his team Kolkata Knight Riders slumped to an 8-wicket loss against Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi on Friday, 16 October.
Pat Cummins (53*) and Morgan (39*) dragged their team to 148/5 after a clinical MI reduced KKR to 61/5 in 10.4 overs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
In response, the defending champions cruised to an easy victory courtesy wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock’s 44-ball 78.
With this win, MI replace Delhi Capitals at the top of the points table with 12 points from eight games.
KKR’s Innings
KKR lost their first wicket early as Suryakumar Yadav took a stunning catch to dismiss Rahul Tripathi for 7. New man in Nitish Rana (5) faced just six deliveries before becoming Coulter-Nile’s first wicket of the season.
Rahul Chahar then put the brakes on KKR’s innings by picking up two scalps in two balls – dismissing opener Shubman Gill (23-ball 21) and Dinesh Karthik (4).
Skipper Morgan and Andre Russell had added just 19 runs together when Jasprit Bumrah removed the latter for 12 (off 9 balls), reducing KKR to 61/5 in 10.4 overs.
From there, Morgan and Pat Cummins stitched an unbroken 87-run partnership to help steady KKR’s innings.
Cummins reached the 50-run mark off 35 deliveries – his first half-century in T20 cricket. His knock included five boundaries and two sixes while Morgan hit in two fours and two maximums during his 29-ball knock.
Boult (1/32), Coulter-Nile (1/51) and Bumrah (1/22) picked up a wicket each while Chahar returned with 2/18. Krunal Pandya (0/23) was the only bowler to go wicketless in the innings.
Mumbai Indians’ Chase
Captain Rohit Sharma and de Kock got Mumbai’s run chase off to a flyer with a 94-run opening stand. The duo took the defending champions to 51/0 in the six Powerplay overs.
De Kock reached the 50-run mark off 25 deliveries – his third half-century this season – as Mumbai finished their 10 overs with 90 runs on the board.
Introduced into the attack in the 11th over, Shivam Mavi gave KKR a breakthrough by removing MI captain Rohit for 35 off 36 balls, which featured five boundaries and a six.
The new batsman Suryakumar Yadav was bowled by Varun Chakravarthy for a 10-ball 10. MI were 111/2, needing 38 runs off 39 balls.
From there, Hardik Pandya smashed a 11-ball 21 including three boundaries and six, and his unbeaten 38-run stand with de Kock helped MI cross the line.
De Kock’s knock featured three maximums and nine boundaries.
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