Kolkata Knight Riders became the first team to cement their place in the playoffs of the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League as they posted an 18-run win over Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.

KKR put up a total of 157 runs in 16 overs after the match was cut short due to a prolonged rain delay, as Venkatesh Iyer top-scored for the hosts with a 42-run knock.

The two-time champions restricted MI to 139 runs for the loss of 8 wickets as their spinners turned the tide of the game in their favour after a quick start by MI openers.

Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine choked the flow of runs in the middle overs and picked up wickets in regular intervals to pull the visitors back to pick up the win that took them into the playoffs.

A decent batting effort from the home side who must thank Venkatesh Iyer for his knock of 42 along with the returning Nitish Rana standing strong with 33. The likes of Andre Russell and Rinku Singh chipped in with some crucial runs to help set a target of 158 for the Mumbai Indians.

The two franchises had a contrasting season with KKR showing significant improvement from their performance of last year while MI suffering a major slump from which they didn’t recover to bow out from the playoffs race.

The two teams squared off earlier in the season at the Wankhede Stadium where KKR emerged victorious by 24 runs to end a 12-year-long wait for a win over MI at the venue.

Source: News18

BDST: 1134 HRS, MAY 12, 2024
SMS