IPL: Tournament openers across all seasons

2014 – MI vs KKR, Abu Dhabi

The 131-run partnership between Kallis and Pandey set up KKR's victory.

The IPL was once again an 8-team tournament after Pune Warriors India withdrew from the IPL. Because of the general elections, it was once again shifted out of India. But this time it was only for a month and UAE was the destination.

Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders squared off against each other. KKR won the toss and batted first. Skipper Gautam Gambhir fell for a laborious eight-ball duck. However, Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey held the innings together as they shared a 131-run stand for the second wicket. Pandey made 64 while Kallis scored 72 as Suryakumar Yadav’s 5-ball 13 helped KKR get to 163. Malinga (4/23) and Zaheer (1/23).

Chasing 8-runs an over, The MI openers – Michael Hussey and Aditya Tare struggled to get going. Hussey was dismissed in 5th over for a 13-ball 3. MI reached 32/1 in 6 overs and then reached 50 in the 10th over. Skipper Rohit Sharma stitched a 61-run stand with Ambati Rayudu to keep MI’s hopes alive. But once both were dismissed, Mumbai slumped to a 41-run defeat.

Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 163 for 5 (Kallis 72, Pandey 64, Malinga 4-23) beat Mumbai Indians 122 for 7 (Rayudu 48, Narine 4-20, Morkel 1/16)