Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating Mumbai Indians (MI) by four wickets at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday, May 20.
Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and decided to bowl first. The visitors got off to a slow start before Cameron Green dismissed Ryan Rickelton and Naman Dheer in the third over. Suryakumar Yadav played some breathtaking shots during his innings of 15 runs in six balls. However, he was dismissed by Saurabh Dubey, who had dismissed Rohit Sharma earlier.
Tilak Verma and Hardik Pandya tried to revive the ship, but the surface did not allow them to change gears after setting out at the crease. Their partnership of 43 runs came on 49 balls. However, both of them were out in quick succession. Even a great batsman like Tilak could score only 20 runs in 32 balls on a slow pitch.
MI were at 105/7 in the 17th over. Corbin Bosch played a brilliant inning at the back end of the innings and scored 32* off 18 balls to take his team to 147/8 in 20 overs.
In reply, KKR lost in-form opener Finn Allen early. However, Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey took the innings forward with a partnership of 38 runs in 28 balls. Bosch gave Mumbai a ray of hope by bringing on Rahane and Cameron Green in consecutive overs.
However, Pandey and Rovman Powell made a match-winning partnership of 64 runs in 47 balls to take their team to the brink of victory. Pandey, Powell and Angkrish Raghuvanshi's concussion replacement Tejaswi Dahiya were all out in quick succession. However, MI did not have many runs left to defend.
In the end, Rinku Singh and Anukul Roy gave the three-time champions a comprehensive win in 18.5 overs.
Key moments of the game:
Corbin Bosch's all-out efforts went in vain
Corbin Bosch He had an almost perfect outing, performing well with the bat, ball and his fielding. He scored 32 runs in 18 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes and batted at a strike rate of 177.78 on a pitch where the bowlers dominated. He took three wickets with the ball and also took a brilliant catch to send Dahiya to the pavilion.
Sunil Narayan bowled another world class spell
Sunil Narine has bowled some brilliant spells on pitches which did not help him. On Wednesday he got a pitch where the balls were gripping and turning. He gave only 13 runs in his four overs and took the big wicket of Hardik Pandya.
Manish Pandey impresses in first innings in IPL 2026
Manish Pandey Got a chance to bat for the first time this season after watching from the sidelines in the last four matches. The right-handed batsman came in to bat at No. 3, which left Raghuvanshi injured. Pandey used his experience and rotated the strike while hitting fours in between. In the end, he scored 45 runs in 33 balls with the help of six fours.
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