The second qualifier between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders turned out to be a dud as MI steamrolled KKR, who lost the match in the first seven overs of the first innings.
It was a clinical bowling performance by the MI bowlers who stifled the much vaunted KKR batting line-up, never letting them off the hook. Jasprit Bumrah, in particular, was sensational with a spell of 3-1-7-3.
KKR managed to post just 107 in 18.5 overs. The MI batting line-up was too strong to stumble against such a target. Despite losing a few early wickets, they managed to reach the target with ease, Krunal Pandya showing off his versatility by playing a handsome cameo.
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The context
Mumbai Indians won the toss and chose to field first, unfettered by their disastrous chase against RPS. It was a good toss to win and Rohit Sharma led his team brilliantly, marshalling his resources perfectly.
Very rarely do you see a match sealed so early, and once KKR were on the back foot, there was no recovering from it. The first seven overs of the first innings was where the match was settled more or less. Like Gambhir has rued all through the tournament, the batsmen kept going for shots, losing their wicket in the process.
The turning point
Bumrah started proceedings in his first over (second of the innings) with the big wicket of Chris Lynn who mishit his characteristic swipe straight down to long-on where Pollard pouched it with ease. A couple of overs later, Sunil Narine was done in by some excellent leg-spin from Karn Sharma, who was picked ahead of Harbhajan Singh yet again. Karn did his reputation no harm as he ended with figures of 4-0-16-4.
Four balls later, Bumrah got the big wicket of Robin Uthappa, who, while trying to flick a fast and straight delivery at 144kph, missed it to be trapped in front, LBW. The final nail in the coffin was the big wicket of Gambhir in the seventh over, who tried to hoick one over cow corner, against the turn, off the bowling of Karn only to end up giving a catch to Hardik Pandya at deep midwicket.
On the very next delivery, Colin de Grandhomme was dismissed LBW to the leggie. KKR were reduced to 31 for 5 in 7 overs. Although it was a sticky 140-150 wicket, KKR lost too many wickets up front and failed to muster a defendable total.
The impact
Thanks to a 56-run partnership between Ishank Jaggi and Suryakumar Yadav, KKR managed to crawl to 107. But that was never going to be enough. MI struggled early, losing 3 for 34 in 5.4 overs, Piyush Chawla picking up two wickets.
However, Rohit Sharma (26) and Krunal Pandya (42*) added 54 for the fourth wicket to shut the door on KKR. In the end, Mumbai scampered to 108 in 14.3 overs, winning the game by six wickets and booking their place in the final where they have a score to settle against Rising Pune Supergiant, who have beaten them thrice in three attempts this season.
