MI Pulls of a Heist at Wankhede

At Wankhede, MI won the toss and put KKR in – Manish Pandey’s belligerence helped them post a total of 178. 2^nd over – first delivery – Chris Woakes to Patel, flashed hard and on TV we heard a clear sound and could sense edge. Bowler did not even appeal, nor did anybody else -  keeper  Uthappa did a belated half-appeal; Big bottom edge, Ultra Edge said – what was  KKR doing ! In the earlier match on Thursday, MS Dhoni has been reprimanded for a "minor" code of conduct breach after Rising Pune Supergiant's seven-wicket win in their opening match.  Dhoni's offense was making a review gesture with his hands - there is no DRS in the IPL - immediately after an lbw appeal against Kieron Pollard was turned down. Match referee Manu Nayyar found Dhoni guilty of a Level 1 offense under Article 2.1.1 of the IPL's rules, which deals with conduct "contrary to the spirit of the game". Dhoni admitted to the offense after the match. At Wankhede, Kolkata Knight Riders blew a great chance to register their second win on the trot in IPL 201. Nitish Rana played a blinder for Mumbai with a 29-ball 50 and Hardik Pandya hammered the KKR bowlers to all ends of the park.  Chasing the visitors’ total of 178 for 7, built mainly around Manish Pandey’s swashbuckling 47-ball 81, MI got off to a superb start before losing four wickets in a cluster and looked down in the dumps at 119 for five before pulling off the win in 19.5 overs. Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma was reprimanded by match referee Sunil Chaturvedi for showing excessive and obvious disappointment with the umpire's decision when he was adjudged lbw by CK Nandan. As I retired, a target of  59 in the last 23 balls seemed ungettable; though Hardik had other ideas.  Hardik Pandya’s cameo met Nitish Rana's solid innings to stage a heist. Rana went from 29 off 23 to 50 off 28, and Hardik hit the winning runs in his 11-ball 29.  His brother  Krunal Pandya dragged Knight Riders back with his left-arm spin of 4-0-24-3. KKR had some help by poor Umpiring.  Butler’s leg before to Ankit Rajpoot  seemed missing leg by a long way and an over later, Rohit Sharma inner edged and was given out – making him furious and letting out some words at the Umpire.  With 3 overs left, the target was 49 (off 18).  Trent Boult it was -  3^rd hit for a 4 by Rana; 4^th flicked for a six and  last disappeared whacked by Hardik.   Rajpoot’s next ball was scooped for another 6; a 4;  Rana getting out, Hardik hitting another 6 – it was all happening as 19 runs came in 18^th & 19^th overs.   Boult had to defend 11 in the last over.  – and MI won with a ball to spare.  Nitish Rana was  the Man of the Match.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
10^th Apr 2017