Kolkata Knight Riders crushes MI to keep their campaign alive

KKR players are enjoying themselves. They understand how important this victory is mean to them. They may not be very alive, but they are alive still. At the innings break, the score didn't appear to be on par, and it was certainly a chaseable total. However, without a crucial player like Suryakumar, Mumbai's batting was unable to pace their innings appropriately. When Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma were dismissed early, they were forced to rebuild, which drove Ishan Kishan and Ramandeep Singh to dig in. That meant they didn't take chances, or rather, weren't allowed to, and KKR's bowlers were magnificent in their execution. The track was slightly two-paced, and the back-of-the-length deliveries were difficult to score against, which suited the Cummins-Russell tandem perfectly. The pursuit eventually came to an end with a weak climax.

For the time being, KKR has managed to keep its playoff hopes alive, and they still have a slight possibility of qualifying for the playoffs. Of course, they don't have complete control over their fate. At the very least, they are fighting, unlike MI, whose performance today outlined their whole season.

Earlier in the innings, That was Bumrah's tale for the night. 5-10, and Bumrah is returning to his best after a long time. Short ball after short ball ripped through KKR's lower middle-order, starting with Russell's wicket. For KKR, who were surprised by that period, what sounded like 200 at one point ended up only 165.KKR brought back Venkatesh Iyer at the helm, and it paid off nicely as he repeated his exploits from the previous season. Rana was in a six-hitting mode tonight after the openers were dismissed, as he threatened to take the game away from MI. Whether it was smart captaincy or pure luck, keeping Bumrah for KKR's deadly batters proved to be a brilliant move.