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Bengaluru, May 19
Mumbai Indians breezed into the IPL final with a six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders, their clinical performance making it look all too easy in the end here tonight. Two-time winners Mumbai Indians will now lock horns with Rising Pune Supergiants in the title clash in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Sent in to bat, KKR were bowled out for 107 runs in 18.5 overs. Mumbai chased down the target with 33 balls to spare. Leg-spinner Karn Sharma was the star performer with the ball for Mumbai, returning excellent figures of 4/16 — the joint best effort by a spinner in an IPL knockout game. Jasprit Bumrah provided a fine support, picking 3/7 in three overs.
Krunal shines with bat
Krunal Pandya showed maturity while chasing down the small target, finishing as Mumbai's top-scorer with 45 off 30 balls with the help of eight boundaries. Mumbai had slipped into a bit of trouble when Kolkata struck three early blows to leave them at 34/3. At that stage, Krunal and skipper Rohit Sharma shared a 54-run partnership for the fourth wicket to pull Mumbai out of trouble. In the 11th over, Mumbai plundered 16 runs off Piyush Chawla, followed by eight in the next over, to inch closer to their target.
At that juncture, KKR did get the wicket of Rohit, but Pandya and Kieron Pollard (9) steered Mumbai home without any further hiccup.
Earlier, Mumbai exploited the conditions and rattled the Kolkata batsmen from the outset. They had Kolkata huffing and puffing at 31/5 in seven overs after Bumrah dismissed Chris Lynn for four in the second over, and then Karn sent back KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir (12) and Colin de Grandhomme (0) off consecutive balls, besides castling Narine in the fifth over. Ishank Jaggi (28) and Surayakumar Yadav (31) put on 56 runs for the sixth wicket to help KKR cross the three-figure mark. — PTI
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