NEW DELHI: Spin twins Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy orchestrated a remarkable turnaround for Kolkata Knight Riders after Mumbai Indians made a strong start, securing a playoffs berth with an 18-run victory in a rain-affected IPL match on Saturday.
Venkatesh Iyer
's explosive 42 off just 21 balls shone bright amidst a disciplined bowling effort from Mumbai Indians, as KKR managed 157/7 following a delayed start that shortened the match to 16 overs per side.
Despite Mumbai Indians racing to 65 without loss in 6.4 overs, KKR's star spinner Narine instigated a dramatic collapse, halting Ishan Kishan's explosive innings of 40 off 22 balls.
With Chakravarthy claiming 2/17 and Russell chipping in with 2/34, KKR dismantled half of Mumbai's lineup within 13 overs, ultimately restricting them to 139/8 in the allotted 16 overs.
Harshit Rana
(2/34) also made vital contributions with the ball, while Narine's 1/21 included the crucial wicket of Kishan.
Securing their last-four berth with two matches to spare, KKR solidified their position atop the 10-team standings with 18 points, marking their first playoff appearance since 2021.
Looking ahead, KKR aims to secure a top-two finish as they face Gujarat Titans on Monday and Royal Challengers Bengaluru on May 19 in their final two league matches.
For Mumbai, this was their ninth loss in 13 matches and they will end their campaign against Lucknow Super Giants on May 17.
Mumbai's diminutive left-handed opener Kishan went all guns blazing with five fours and two sixes and switched-hit Narine for a boundary. But Narine had the last laugh and dismissed the destructive Kishan.
Narine deceived Kishan with a seam-up delivery as the left hander holed out to midwicket for KKR's first breakthrough.
Chakravarthy ended Rohit's forgettable stint at the crease in the next over and finished his four-over spell by dismissing MI skipper
Hardik Pandya
.
Coming in as an impact player, Indian skipper
Rohit Sharma
's patchy run of form continued as he looked out of sorts.
Rohit was going run-a-ball in his scratchy knock, but that was not a problem for MI as Kishan took the attack to the KKR camp with his flat-batted approach.
The left-hander smashed Harshit Rana for two fours and one six, and then took on Narine with successive fours and a six.
MI were well on course with 59 for no loss in five overs with a required run-rate of exactly nine runs per over at that stage. But then, KKR's spin duo plotted MI's downfall.
Earlier, on a tacky wicket that remained under covers for three days owing to persistent rain in the city, KKR lost their openers -- Phil Salt (6) and Sunil Narine (0) -- in seven balls.
Battling a strained hamstring, Iyer lifted KKR after their worst start of the season with his counter-attacking knock after MI won a good toss following a late start because of rain.
The highlight of the left-hander's innings was the way he hit Jasprit Bumrah for a six and two fours.
Having missed their last 10 matches because of a finger injury, Nitish Rana made a 23-ball 33 during a key partnership with Iyer before getting run out.
But Mumbai bounced back well with leg-spinner Piyush Chawla returning figures of 2/38 from his three overs, taking the two key wickets of Iyer and Andre Russell (24 off 14 balls; 2x4, 2x6).
Bumrah (2/39 from four overs) ended his splendid spell by dismissing Rinku Singh for a 12-ball 20.
(With inouts from PTI)
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