Champions MI rein in KKR on slow Chepauk pitch

Mumbai Indians managed only 152 after batting first, but then bowled amazingly to restrict KKR to 142 for 7 in 20 overs to record their first win in the second game.

On a typically sluggish and spin-friendly Chepauk wicket, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fast bowlers returned eight wickets on Tuesday, with captain Eoin Morgan starting his first five overs with spin. On the same pitch, Mumbai Indians (MI) spinners took the first five wickets, with skipper Rohit Sharma bowling just one over of spin in the powerplay.

MI beat KKR by 10 runs (IPL)

It was a classic contrast of tactics—one out of the box, one orthodox. In the end, the latter prevailed, with MI turning the contest in the final quarter to sneak out with a 10-run victory in Chennai. It was Rohit Sharma & Co’s 12th win in the last 13 contests against the Knights, a tale of utter dominance. (IPL 2021 KKR vs MI Highlights)

KKR were creative: using spin to defend against an MI top-order hunting to attack; then giving their fast bowlers the chance to pounce themselves with pace (and the change of it); then bringing the most trusted personnel to complete the hunt. MI seemed trapped at the break, bowled out for 152.

Sharma went the other way, using his new ball bowlers in Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah and Marco Jansen to find breakthroughs. They weren’t coming. KKR were steady in the chase with a 72-run opening stand inside nine overs before leggie Rahul Chahar—brought in as late as the ninth over—stood up to be counted as MI's lead spinner. In his four overs, Chahar got Shubman Gill--he holed out a ball that was a touch quicker--got one to spit sharply to Rahul Tripathi, threw one wide for Morgan's slog to be caught and got the in-form Nitish Rana (57, 47b) stumped to cap off the spell.

It snuffed the life out of KKR, with 30 needed off the last four. Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik, with all their IPL experience, just couldn't find the strength or the pace off the wicket to get the big hits, with Bumrah and Boult combining to get the job done on the wicket in the last couple of overs.

If Sharma relied on pace at the start and the end, Morgan threw all the eggs of his spin basket comprising Harbhajan Singh, Varun Chakravarthy and Shakib Al Hasan in the powerplay. It resulted in Quinton de Kock, who walked straight out of quarantine into the MI playing XI, holing out at long-on off a flighted Chakravarthy delivery in the second over.

Signs of a grind for batsmen. Not if you’re Suryakumar Yadav. The Indian batsman showed the technique to counter-attack spin on a sluggish surface, sweeping, lofting and driving Singh for three fours off the next over. That Yadav has added more variety to his shot-making menu was apparent in the eighth over from Prasidh Krishna. After picking up a good length ball on middle stump to whack it flat to the midwicket boundary for a six, Yadav opened his left leg slightly to cream the next ball around the same line and length through covers for four. Two overs later, Yadav took one step to his right, swiveled his bat around the ball pitched outside off and deposited Pat Cummins on the roof behind the square leg boundary for a 99m six to bring up his half-century.

The 50-run partnership between Yadav and skipper Rohit Sharma, who was happy to work the ball around, came off 37 balls and MI were starting to shift gears. But left-arm orthodox Shakib used all his experience and guile to dismiss Yadav, slowing his pace and pulling his length back a touch to fox an advancing Yadav (56, 36b), getting him caught at long-on.

Job accomplished, spin show done, over to the quicker men. Cummins, the most expensive foreign player in IPL till Chris Morris wore the tag at this year's auctions, had an underwhelming last season with 12 wickets in 14 matches. But investing on quality is always a safe bet as the Australian is proving to be. Cummins executed the short stuff plan to perfection against Ishan Kishan before getting Sharma (43, 32b)—who was by then opening up to add to his record tally of runs against KKR with pulls and deft touches past short third man—to chop on an off-cutter outside off three overs later. Change of pace did the trick for Krishna as well in sending back Hardik.

Coming into bowl in the 18th over, it was Andre Russell’s turn to do what he does best—bowl around the wicket and create weird angles for batters to hit. He got his fellow West Indian star Kieron Pollard edging a wide one to Dinesh Karthik off the second ball. He added three wickets off his last four balls; a finish as dramatic as MI’s fall from 86/2 in the 11th over to 152 all out.