Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma plays a shot against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night. - BCCI/IPL
Dubai - The skipper scores his 37th IPL half-century as they end six-match winless streak in the UAE
Published: Thu 24 Sep 2020, 8:08 PM
Skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front as the Mumbai Indians broke their duck in the UAE with victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Mumbai Indians had been winless in the UAE, a run of six matches stretching back to the first leg in 2014, including the tournament opener last Saturday. But at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday night, they finally put an end to that drought with a 49-run victory.
And they owed it to their captain Rohit, who scored his 37th IPL half-century in his 190th match. He was ably supported by Suryakumar Yadav, who played a brisk knock as the defending champions posted 195 for 5 in their 20 overs.
The Kolkata Knight Riders, playing their first game of the tournament, were behind the eight-ball against such a stiff target and ended up with 146 for 9 in 20 overs.
James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah picked two wickets each.
Rohit, the Indian limited-overs captain, made 80 from 54 deliveries with six sixes and three boundaries, while Yadav scored a 28-ball 47 with six boundaries and a six.
Rohit also reached the landmark of 200 sixes in the IPL, to move to fourth on the list of most sixes.
West Indian Chris Gayle leads the roll of honour with 326 followed by South African AB de Villiers on 214. MS Dhoni is third with 212. Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli are fifth and sixth with 194 and 191 respectively.
Pacer Shivam Mavi returned with two for 32.
In what is a rarity in this form of cricket, there were two maiden overs with Mavi and Boult bowling one each.
Earlier, the Mumbai Indians lost an early wicket, in the second over of the match, with opener Quinton de Kock dismissed cheaply for one. The South African probably misread the length from Shivam Mavi and attempted a pull but only managed to sky it to Nikhil Naik, who lapped it up at mid-off.
But that was to be just an early blip as skipper Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav joined forces to get them going along.
Rohit was more patient with him, six off nine balls at one point, while Yadav wasted little time to get stuck into the bowlers.
Yadav smacked four boundaries, of which three came off successive deliveries as Sandeep Warrier went for 16 runs in the third over.
The Mumbai Indians had a good powerplay with 59 runs coming from the opening six overs, with Rohit making 27 from 20, while Yadav had blasted 29 from 13.
Andre Russell was introduced into the attack and Rohit helped himself to a boundary and a six, and then picked the wrong one from chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, went inside-out and smashed it over cover for a six.
The Mumbai Indians had moved along to 94 for one in the first 10 overs with Rohit on 45 from 32 deliveries with four sixes and a boundary, while Yadav was on an identical score, with his 45 coming from 26 balls with six boundaries and a six.
The pair were involved in a 90-run partnership for the second wicket but that stand was broken after Yadav was run out, three short of what would have been an eighth half-century, by the Sunil Narine-Eoin Morgan combination.
Rohit then took two off Kuldeep to reach his 37th half-century in the IPL. And in Kuldeep's next over, Rohit launched him for two more sixes to reach another milestone, that of 200 sixes in IPL history.
Rohit and Saurabh Tiwary then put on 49 runs for the third wicket. Rohit's innings came to an end when he was caught by Pat Cummins off Mavi.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians: 195-5 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 80, Suryakumar Yadav 47, Saurabh Tiwary 21, Hardik Pandya 18, Kieron Pollard 13 not out, Shivan Mavi 2-32) beat Kolkata Knight Riders: 146-9 in 20 overs (Pat Cummins 33, Dinesh Karthik 30, Nitish Rana 24, Eoin Morgan 16, James Pattinson 2-25, Trent Boult 2-30, Jasprit Bumrah 2-32) by 49 runs.
Man of the Match: Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians).
james@khaleejtimes.com
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