IPL 10 Qualifier 2 MI vs KKR: Mumbai defeats Kolkata; to meet RPS in final

Bengaluru: Mumbai Indians (MI) breezed into the final of Indian Premier League (IPL) season 10 by registering a comfortable 6-wicket win with 33 balls remaining over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Qualifier 2 at M Chinnaswamy ground here on Friday.

Coming in to chase down a small target of 108 runs, MI lost Lendl Simmons (3 off 6) earlier in the innings with just 11 runs on the board. Parthiv Patel, though, played some good shots during his inning but could not score beyond 14 runs off 9 balls hitting three fours.

Ambati Rayudu, who played a belligerent 63-run knock off only 37 deliveries on his return to the playing XI, failed today as he could only add just 6 runs off 11 balls. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Krunal Pandya build a good partnership of 54 runs off only 40 balls for the 4^th wicket to bring MI closer to the target, before the former departed at the individual score of 26 runs off 24 balls, with 1 four and 1 six.

Pandya, however, ensured his team achieves the target with a splendid 42 run inning off only 20 balls, and decorated his knock with 7 flourishing boundaries. Kieron Pollard also remained unbeaten at 9 runs off 7 balls.

With this victory, Mumbai Indians has fixed the final bout against Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS). Interestingly, RPS has defeated MI thrice in the tenth season of IPL, including in Qualifier 1.

Earlier, KKR lost the toss and was forced to bat first at the tough M Chinnaswamy ground. MI bowlers fully utilized the early advantage to keep bagging wickets at regular intervals.

Mumbai Indians pulled out a great bowling performance against KKR to restrict them to a below par score of 107 runs in 18.5 overs on a bowling-friendly wicket.

Jasprit Bumrah and Karn Sharma ripped through KKR batting line-up by bagging three and four wickets, respectively, in their three and four-over spells. They conceded only 7 and 16 runs, respectively.

Mitchell Johnson also plucked two wickets in his four overs giving away 28 runs. Hardik Pandya bowled just one over for 4 runs while his brother Krunal Pandya was a little expensive in this match. He conceded 25 runs in three overs and remained wicket-less.

Lasith Malinga managed to get the final wicket of the inning in form of Ankit Rajpoot. He gave away 24 runs in 3.5 overs.

Suryakumar Yadav, who has been in and out of KKR playing XI during this season, was the highest scorer today with his 31-run knock off 25 balls hitting 2 fours and a six. He was well accompanied by Ishank Jaggi who played a sensible 28-run knock off 31 balls, with the help of 3 boundaries.

Also Read: IPL 10 MI vs KKR: Mumbai bowlers restrict Kolkata to 107

KKR started off to a bad start after they were invited to bat first by MI. Destructive opener Chris Lynn (4 off 8) departed in the second over of the inning, bowled by Jasprit Bumrah. At team’s total of 24 runs, Sunil Narine (10 off 10, 1 six) also went back.

Robin Uthappa also looked in a hurry to return as he departed after adding just 1 run to the total. Skipper Gautam Gambhir (12 off 15, 2 fours) also failed today leaving his team under immense pressure at 31/4 in 6.5 overs. On the very next delivery bowled by Karn Sharma, Colin de Grandhomme also got out in form of fifth wicket of KKR.

Jaggi and Suryakumar Yadav added 56 runs for the sixth wicket to lead their team to 87 runs before the former departed. With 94 runs on the board, Piyush Chawla (2 off 6) returned to the dug-out. Nathan Coulter-Nile smashed a six in his 6-run inning off 4 deliveries, but could not take his team anywhere beyond 100 runs.

Then it was the turn of Suryakumar Yadav, who was also sent back by none other than Bumrah, who not only bagged three important wickets to break the spine of KKR but also bowled a maiden over to keep the scoring rate under check. Ashish Rajpoot was the last man to depart at the individual score of 4 runs.

The IPL 10 final will be played between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant at Rajiv Gandhi International stadium on May 21 (Sunday). This is going to be Mumbai's fourth appearance in the final of IPL.