IPL 2017: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 5 Talking Points

#2 Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya’s heroics

Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya - the architects of the triumph (Image Courtesy: IPL Official Twitter)

It’s the Indian Premier League and this time there were two Indians who went hell for leather to pull Mumbai out of the pits and ensure that their team romp home to glory. Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya took the KKR attack by the scruff of the neck from the word go to leave their opposition in shambles.

Extra Cover: IPL 2017: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders, SK Player of the Day, Nitish Rana

Rana impressed during Mumbai’s opening game against the Rising Pune Supergiants and coming in at No. 3 in the star-studded batting line, he added to his reputation of being a decent batsman. He displayed a calm temperament with a dynamically crafty knock of 50 runs from 29 balls, but was dismissed with Mumbai needing 19 runs from their final nine balls.

After Rana’s demise, the baton of taking over the responsibility of winning the game for Mumbai was passed on to Hardik Pandya and he didn’t disappoint one bit. The cameo of 29 runs from 11 balls was too hot to handle for the Knight Riders as he kept belting one ball after the other to drill the nail into the coffin of KKR’s chances.