#IPL2020 MIKKR MumbaiIndians KolkataKnightRiders

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Mumbai Indians return to winning ways

Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders Game Summary and Post Match thoughts

Location: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, UAE

By Vir Kamath

The 5th game of IPL 2020 was played between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. Both sides have a good history and both have a combined total of 6 trophies where 4 belong to MI and 2 belong to KKR. 

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and their captain and former Mumbai Indians player Dinesh Karthik opted to bowl first leaving Rohit Sharma's Mumbai Indians to bat first. Quinton de Kock got dismissed early once again after hitting a skyer. Since his dismissal Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav put on a good partnership with the bat and hit the KKR bowlers deliveries out of the park. Suryakumar would later fall to a run out by England skipper, Eoin Morgan. Young Saurabh Tiwary and Rohit Sharma also put up a decent partnership with the bat. However Tiwari never got going and got out by a catch. Hardik Pandya then walked to the crease to hit a couple of fours and a six before getting dismissed by hitting his bat on the wicket also known as a hit wicket which was very unlucky. Rohit Sharma continued his fine form with the bat till 80 runs until he got dismissed after mistiming a shot which went straight into the hands of Pat Cummins. It was then up to Pollard and Krunal Pandya to take Mumbai to the decent score as their previous ambitions of hitting more than 200 runs was out of the window. They managed to secure a total of 195 runs leaving KKR to chase 196 to win the game. Kolkata got off to a decent start with Sunil Narine hitting their first six. Kolkata Knight Rider's youngster Shubman Gill also hit a couple of boundaries only to get dismissed by Trent Boult who bowled a bouncer giving the young batsman no option but to hit it over the fielders in the circle but he mistimed his shot and Pollard took a spectacular catch. Not long after Narine also got out after Pattinson bowled a trick delivery which clipped Narine's bat and went straight to the keeper for a catch. Next came former Mumbai Indians player Nitesh Rana who hit Rahul Chahar for a couple of boundaries and put up a half decent partnership with KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik. Rana got out by a spectacular catch by Hardik Pandya which in my opinion could be the catch of the season. Pollard bowled that delivery and secured his first IPL wicket since 2015! Eoin Morgan, the current England skipper who lead them to world cup glory back in 2019 came out to bat along with Dinesh Karthik. However the KKR Skipper found himself back in the pavilion after getting out lbw to Rahul Chahar. Next came KKR's main man Andre Russel, he and Morgan hit a couple of good shots but both got dismissed by you guessed it, Jasprit Bumrah. Russel fell to a classic Bumrah yorker which crashed into the stumps. Morgan followed suit after a thick edge which carried to de Kock. At this point everyone thought it was game over for the Kolkata Knight Riders as all their main batsmen were out. It more or less was until Pat Cummins ruined Bumrah's show after hitting 4 sixes and running between the crease as KKR got 27 runs in that over. At this point KKR just did their best to save themselves from humiliation but eventually lost the game after Pat Cummins got out by his Australian teammate Pattinson and two wickets fell after that to give Mumbai Indians the victory. 

Rohit Sharma wins MOTM after a brilliant innings with the bat!

This game was pretty dull to be honest ever since KKR came out to bat. KKR in my opinion just are not the same team as they used to be 2 or 3 years ago when they convincingly defeated all their opponents and are probably just missing that one good player which offers creativity. Their team yesterday mostly revolved around youngsters who are talented but they need the motivation and passion from the experienced players which is currently missing. On the other hand Mumbai Indians broke the jinx of not winning games in the United Arab Emirates and returned to winning ways this season and just ruled out any chances of KKR winning the game. If they can continue their form they have a chance of securing their 5th IPL title. I think the MOTM or Man of the Match would have to go to Rohit Sharma who hit KKR's bowlers out of the park with some beautiful sixes and also led his team to victory by making the right rotation with the bowlers who eventually did the job for MI. Before I end I would like to point out a star duo in the making in the MI squad. That is the duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult. Both took 2 wickets each and their phase is deadly. Most batsman would have nightmares facing them be it in IPL games or International matches. Well played MI and a tough fixture against RCB next in Dubai!