In an Indian Premier League game played in Mumbai on Sunday, the Mumbai Indians defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets thanks to quickfire fifties from Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma. After 13 seasons, this was MI’s first victory in their opening clash.
Rickelton (81 off 43 balls) and Rohit (78 off 38 balls) had a lightning-fast 148-run opening partnership off only 71 balls while chasing 221, laying the groundwork for MI’s victory in 19.1 overs, reaching 224/4. Additionally, MI registered a record chase at home.
Rohit’s effort had six fours and as many maximums as Rickelton’s eight sixes and four boundaries.
Rookie Angkrish Raghuvanshi lit up the stadium with a 29-ball 51 to help KKR post 220/4 after skipper Ajinkya Rahane had earlier hit a magnificent half-century.
Three fours and five sixes helped opener Rahane reach 67 off 40 balls, while two knocks over the fence and six boundaries adorned Raghuvanshi’s knock.
Rinku Singh scored an undefeated 21-ball 33 towards the end. Shardul Thakur (3/39) ended up as MI’s highest wicket-taker.
In the first over, Rahane started off with a wristy flick over wide long-on with perfect timing for a six off Boult. Hardik Pandya (1/39) made mistakes with line and lengths throughout the fourth over, giving up 26 runs, which gave KKR the momentum.
While Finn Allen (37 off 17 balls) drilled Pandya down the ground for a tremendous hit for four, followed by a scoop past the ‘keeper and short fine leg for a third boundary, the captain helped himself with two pick-up strokes down the leg for successive sixes.
Prior to then, Allen had amassed 17 runs in the third over by hitting two sixes and a four off rookie Allah Ghazanfar (0/51).
After the powerplay, KKR stood comfortable at 78/1, even though Thakur struck on his second ball to get rid of Finn, who was caught by Tilak Varma off an innocuous at long-on.
Rahane was certain for a triple-digit score at one point, hitting over 200, while KKR reached the 100-run mark inside the eighth over.
However, the visitors’ momentum was halted by Thakur’s two strikes in different spells, and the new hitters were unable to keep up.
In the ninth over, Thakur drove Cameron Green to pursue short and wide deliveries. On the second such delivery, the Australian blasted it straight to Sherfane Rutherford, who made a wonderful diving catch in front.
Then, in his third and 14th over of the innings, Thakur tricked Rahane with a slower cross-seam ball outside the off, which the KKR captain smacked inside out. Despite falling a few steps behind, his MI rival easily caught him at cover.
Rahane’s 67 off 40 balls, which included three fours and five sixes, demonstrated once more how hard the seasoned Indian batsman has been batting for the white-ball game.
A magnificent six was blasted over bowler Mayank Markande’s head, and Ghazanfar was hit over midwicket for another six while Rahane landed on his knee.
Raghuvanshi was slow for a significant portion of his innings, but he bounced back brilliantly to hit a couple big knocks near the finish that propelled him past fifty. Rahane, on the other hand, went hard from the start.
On 21, Rohit Sharma lost a lofted hit that posed a regulation catch at the rope off Ghazanfar in the 15th, giving Raghuvanshi further luck.
After a 29-ball 51 with two sixes and six fours, the KKR wicketkeeper-batter was finally removed by Pandya in the penultimate over.
