3 reasons why KKR's win over MI is one of their greatest ever in IPL

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured a clinical 24-run victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) on Friday (May 3) in Match 51 of IPL 2024 at Wankhede Stadium.

The home team invited the Knight Riders to bat first, and stunned them with their bowling display. Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Thushara was terrific to secure three early wickets, while others also contributed to reduce KKR to 57/5 in the seventh over.

However, Venkatesh Iyer (70) and Manish Pandey (42) were impressive to make a turnaround for KKR and helped them post 169 on the board. Jasprit Bumrah and Thushara picked up three wickets each, while Hardik Pandya scalped two.

In response, the Mumbai Indians batting unit could not be potent enough and were stuttering at 71/6 in the 12th over. Nevertheless, Suryakumar Yadav (56) and Tim David (24) provided notable contributions, but MI were bundled out for 145. Mitchell Starc was the wrecker-in-chief for KKR with figures of 4/33.

On that note, let's take a look at three reasons why this win will rank as special for KKR in the cash-rich league.

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1) KKR breached MI fortress after 12 years

As per head-to-head records at Wankhede Stadium, Kolkata secured only their second victory against Mumbai in 11 games. The last time KKR won at the iconic venue was in the 2012 season, when they prevailed by 32 runs.

Batting first, KKR posted a respectable 140, with top contributions from Manoj Tiwary (41) and Gautam Gambhir (27). RP Singh took two wickets for the hosts.

In response, Mumbai started well with Herschelle Gibbs (13), Sachin Tendulkar (27) and Dinesh Karthik (21). However, the rest of the batting unit failed to perform and MI were all out for a meager 108. Sunil Narine was immaculate to pick up four wickets for KKR. Interestingly, this game ranks fifth on the list of the lowest scores defended by the teams at this venue.

Certainly, Saturday's victory was a historic one for the Kolkata-based franchise, as they managed to secure an impressive victory against Mumbai after 12 years at Wankhede.

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2) Masterstroke with use of 'Impact Player'

With KKR struggling at 57/5 in the seventh over, they needed a crucial partnership to steer them to a quality score on the board. Veteran batter Manish Pandey, who was padded up in the last few games as well, finally got an opportunity to feature for KKR on Friday. However, Pandey came in as Impact Player and assessed the conditions well.

The 14th over was a major shift in the match situation, as Pandey hit a four and creamed a beautiful six against Bumrah. Although he was dismissed after hitting a six against Pandya in the 17th over, the 34-year-old had contributed 42 off 31 and managed to bring back KKR into the game by then.

Along the way, his experience also helped Venkatesh Iyer to play with a positive intent and they stitched together a match-winning 83-run stand.

Here' what Iyer said of Pandey's guidance post the match:

"Manish Pandey was guiding me during the batting. He is so experienced and he was saying when to attack and how to progress, which bowler to take down and all."

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3) Defending 170 at Wankhede is not an easy task

Small boundaries and a flat surface - these are two red flags for bowlers at Wankhede. In three of the four games played at this venue before the MI-KKR fixture, teams scored around 200 runs in each innings.

However, Kolkata bowlers proved to be terrific on Saturday, as they overcame the red flags and the batting prowess of MI batters. Apart from Mitchell Starc's four-fer, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy and Andre Russell scalped two wickets each for KKR.

Moreover, the average first-innings score of Wankhede being 170, it takes a lot of effort from the bowling unit to secure a victory for their respective team. Certainly, this was one of the few reasons for which KKR can be proud of this victory.