IPL 2021 | MI vs KKR - What Experts said as Mumbai consolidate supremacy over reckless Knight Riders

The Mumbai Indians fought back admirably from a hopeless position to win the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders by 10 runs. 

The win further strengthened Mumbai’s dominance over the Knight Riders in the IPL, winning 10 of the last 11 games, and 22 out of overall 28 matches played between the two sides since the inaugural edition of the league in 2008.

With the win, the Mumbai Indians have opened up their account in terms of a win in the opening edition while for the Knight Riders, the equation has gone even-stevens after this loss having won their opening encounter against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Captains’ views

KKR skipper Eoin Morgan was asked if the loss was hard to digest considering they were cruising at one stage in the chase, and he readily conceded the disappointment. However, the quality of cricket they played albeit in clusters was not lost on Morgan.

“Yeah, it's disappointing. A lot of the time we played good cricket, certainly the first half and a majority of the chase. We made mistakes, hopefully, we can iron them out,” Morgan said in the post-match presentation.

Morgan accepted that his side completely messed up the chasing tactics as they could neither attack nor they could pace their innings well to take the team home past the finishing line. He said that playing an aggressive brand of cricket has worked for KKR in the past, but to win games like the one against the Mumbai Indians, they need to up their quality.

“Mumbai are a very good side. I think the perfect game is to be able to do both (aggressive as well as anchoring ) and we've managed to do neither in the end. It works for us a majority of the time, but we need to be better. The games that have been played here, would suggest that there's a trend. Mumbai have been performing like this for a long time, that would be something we need to assess,” Morgan added.

On the other hand, the victorious captain Rohit Sharma was elated at the fighting spirit his sides show on the night. He commended each and every bowler for ‘putting their hands up’ whenever he needed them to come to the party.

“It was a great fightback considering where the game was while they were batting. Anyone who came to bowl at different stages wanted to put their hands up and do something for the team,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation.

He said that the KKR were off to a good start but the spin twins of Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar brought Mumbai back in the game. He said that Chahar’s four-wicket haul was the instrumental contribution, while Pandya’s spell in the latter half of the innings was also valuable in turning things around for the side.

“We can take a lot of confidence from this game. There were lots of positives. The way KKR started, they batted brilliantly in the first six overs. But once the powerplay was gone, the way Rahul came and got wickets was crucial. And Krunal at the end was also crucial. I can praise all the bowlers, honestly. Good signs for the team moving forward,” Rohit added.

He was asked by the nature of the pitch at the Chepauk, and he responded by outlining the need for someone to make their start count. 

He said that the trends emerging from the Chepauk have been suggesting that new batsmen find it tougher to get going and hence the set basemen need to take it upon themselves to make big scores to lead their sides to good totals.

“Definitely not easy on this pitch, a set batter needs to carry on as long as possible. The trend in Chennai is when the new batsman comes in, it becomes hard to go from ball one, unlike Wankhede,” Rohit opined.

He also conceded that Mumbai wasted another opportunity to put up a big score on board after missing out against the Royal Challengers Bangalore as well. However, he credited the team for the fightback more than he wanted to lament the missed opportunities. 

“To be honest, we were 15-20 runs short. The way we started, we should have batted better. That's happened twice, we need to see how to get better. But I don't want to take credit away from the team,” Rohit asserted.

He commended the number three batsman Suryakumar Yadav for not wasting his good form and making it look like an easier pitch with extraordinary displays of shots.

“I think SKY is carrying that form that he had when he played for India. He's very fearless when he bats. When he plays those shots it doesn't look like he's taking risks, those are cricketing shots. We need a guy who bats fearlessly. I'm glad that we could get some partnerships in the middle and get a decent total. We need to just figure out how to finish innings in the last 5 overs. We've done that in the past,” Rohit concluded.

Experts’ take

Knight Riders had the game firmly in their grasp, but reckless strokes when the required run rate was not going higher put the pressure on batsmen lower down the order.

Analysing the game for the host broadcaster Star Sports, batting legend Brian Lara lambasted Knight Riders batsmen for not having a balanced attitude. However, he said that the Mumbai Indians won the game instead of the Knight Riders losing their cause.

Lara was not the only one to have that sentiment as cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, too, was puzzled by the batting efforts of Knight Riders while at the same time commended the Mumbai Indians for their brilliant defence.

Veteran journalist Sambit Bal could not fathom the fact the Knight Riders went on to lose the game needing to run a ball from the last five overs. 

He blamed set batsmen for throwing their wickets away and allowing the Mumbai Indians to get back in the game, which they did in fine style on the back of exceptional bowling by Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.

He also reminded the world about the absolute dominance of the Mumbai Indians over the Knight Riders in the 14-year-long and developing history of the IPL.

Former Indian opener and now an ace analyst across platforms, Aakash Chopra saw all the qualities on display from the Mumbai Indians that have helped them win the title on most occasions. However, he said the Knight Riders have always found a way to be overhauled by the Mumbai Indians and the encounter on Tuesday night was just another incidence of that.

Amid the huge rounds of applause for the Mumbai Indians, experts did not miss out on noticing the glaring dropped catches from the Mumbai Indians.

Chopra was at it with pointing out that Andre Russell was dropped on as many as two occasions and the Mumbai Indians were good enough to clinch the contest.

Harsha Bhogle, too, pointed out the bizarre phase of the play when the Mumbai Indians were dropping a lot of catches while the Knight Riders were eager to gift their wickets away.

Earlier in the last few overs of the Mumbai Indians batting, experts were in awe of Andre Russell who picked up the first-ever five-wicket haul against the Mumbai Indians.

Chopra pointed out the big collapse from the Mumbai side where they lost seven wickets for just 38 runs in the last five overs and brilliant innings from Suryakumar Yadav seemed like played on a different pitch in a different contest.

Harsha Bhogle also commended the tactics of Eoin Morgan and a clinical spell of bowling from Shakib Al Hasan. 

Bhogle also spoke highly of a 99-metre-long six off the bat of Suryakumar Yadav off Pat Cummins that took him past his fifty-run mark.

The Mumbai Indians are well and truly back in the 14th edition of the IPL after facing an embarrassing loss at the hands of the RCB in their last game. 

On the other hand, though, the Knight Riders will be hurting while digesting the fact that they let the game slip away with only 31 needed off the last 30 balls and six wickets remaining in the dugout.