IPL 2018, MI VS KKR: 4 Unnoticed things from the match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knightriders

Mumbai Indians are in a position from where they need to win every game to stay alive in this tournament. And to achieve the same, they took the field against Kolkata Knight Riders, a team riding high on confidence, in Mumbai’s scorching heat at Wankhede.

Put into bat, Mumbai were off to a flier as a 200+ total looked well within their reach. But the visitors pulled things back by picking few quick wickets to put brakes on the scoring rate.

As a result, home team fell short of the probable target and could manage only 181 in their 20 overs.

Chasing 182, KKR were well on course with an astonishing partnership between Uthappa and Nitish Rana.

But Mumbai staged a miraculous comeback as they prevented the visitors from unleashing in the death overs, to eventually win the game in the ultimate over by 13 runs.

Let’s take a look at some of the things that went unnoticed:

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#1 Kolkata opting to bowl 5 bowlers in the powerplay

Karthik went with a different plan to rotate his players in the first six overs

This has been a rare sight in this year’s IPL. In most of the matches, skippers have gone the conventional way to stick with their opening bowlers for the maximum length of the powerplay.

But not today, when Dinesh Karthik went with a different plan to rotate his bowlers and not give them spells lasting for more than an over in the first six.

Moreover, his idea was well supported by the scorching Mumbai heat which didn’t allow Karthik to bowl them with longer spells. He bowled five bowlers in the powerplay, just giving two overs to the debutant Prasidh Krishna.

#2 Mumbai Indians love shuffling their batting order

Mumbai have been experimenting with their batting order

In one of their most disappointing seasons so far, Mumbai Indians haven’t shown any consistency in persisting with their batting order.

The men in blue have been experimenting with the order quite often than not. Except for the opening slot, which sees some predictability, no other spot in their order can be assured for any particular batsmen.

The skipper has batted at possibly all the spots but hasn’t got going in the matches barring few.

The failure of Ishan Kishan at No.3 has been a problem of concern for them as they tend to push the youngster lower in the middle order.

They have roped in JP Duminy and tried to figure out his role along with the Pandya brothers.

#3 Dinesh Karthik asking youngsters to step up to the occasion

Karthik has shown immense faith in the youngsters

This has been the beauty of Karthik-the skipper in this year’s VIVO IPL. With Kolkata going in for a lot of younger players, he has played a vital role in bringing all of them together at such a big stage as IPL.

The franchise has shown immense faith in the youngsters and have allowed them to blossom and express themselves at the field.

They have got the backing needed from their skipper as the likes of Shivam Mavi and Shubman Gill have been given a long run of play despite some average performances. Kathik, at times, has thrown them in deep waters to give them a taste of pressure at such an early stage in their careers.

#4 Robin Uthappa gets to his 4000 runs

He became the fifth highest run-getter in IPL history

One of the most experienced campaigners in this form of the game, Robin Uthappa has been a pillar of strength for Kolkata in past few years. The veteran cricketer has pulled off several victories for his side riding on his mere batting skills.

Robin, yet again came to the party as he set a perfect platform for his team to capitalize further to chase a mammoth total.

In due course of his innings, he even bought up his 4000th run to become the fifth highest run-getter in the history of the league.

Before the start of the game, he was just 17 runs shy to that landmark but got it easily as he mustered 54 runs to propel his side near to the total.

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