The Defending Champions Mumbai Indians faced two-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders at Abu Dhabi on Thursday. KKR are coming on to this match after beating RCB while MI have lost their previous game against arch rivals CSK. Both the teams are in need for two points for qualification.
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KKR skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and decided to bowl first. Mumbai Indian’s skipper Rohit Sharma was returning to the playing XI in place of Anmolpreet Singh. Hardik Pandya is still not available owing to some injury issues. However, KKR remained unchanged after winning the match against RCB.
MI got off to a good start and scored 56 runs in the powerplay without losing a wicket. Both the opening batsmen looked vulnerable and runs were effing out easily.
KKR skipper Eoin Morgan handed the ball to Andre Russell in the 9th over of the game. Proteas batsmen Quinton De Kock decided to shift the gear. He smashed the first ball for a boundary towards the extra cover.
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Russell pitched the next ball slightly up and De Kock smashed it towards his skipper Rohit Sharma who was standing in the non-striker’s end. Rohit had to react quickly and he ducked and managed to evade the ball. The ball went straight to the long off region and reached the boundary lines for a four.
Watch the video below:
However, the skipper was dismissed in the very next over by spinner Sunil Narine. Rohit managed to score 33 runs off 30 balls. The 78-run partnership between the opening duo ended in the 10th over. Quinton De Kock became the highest scorer in MI dugout as he managed to score 55 runs off 42 balls. Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya added 21 and 14 respectively as MI reached to a total of 155/6 after the completion of 20 overs.
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