IPL 2024: Venkatesh Iyer’s knock, superb bowling help KKR beat MI, seal Playoffs berth (Ld)

Kolkata, May 12 (IANS) A brilliant bowling effort led by spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine after Venkatesh Iyer’s blazing knock helped Kolkata Knight Riders beat Mumbai Indians by 18 runs and become the first team to qualify for the Playoffs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 on Saturday.
With this win, Kolkata Knight Riders became the first team to secure their place in the Playoff, moving to 18 points from nine wins from 12 matches. This was their second win over MI this season, having beaten them at the Wankhede stadium a few days back.In a match that started around 90 minutes late and was reduced to 16-overs-a-side because of rain, Kolkata Knight Riders were in trouble on two occasions but came back strongly both times to secure a memorable double victory over Mi this season.Asked to bat first, KKR were in a precarious position at 40/3 in the fifth over before a brilliant rearguard innings by Venkatesh Iyer, who blasted a 21-bal 42 and shared a 37-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Nitish Rana (33). Crucial cameos by Andre Russell (24) and Rinku Singh helped them reach a challenging 157/7 in 16 overs.KKR landed in a difficult situation once again as Mumbai Indians blazed to 65 for no loss in the seventh over when Ishan Kishan hit a 22-ball 40 studded with five boundaries and two sixes. However, the introduction of the spinners Sunil and Varun Chakravarthy changed the complexion of the match and turned things towards the hosts.Narine sent back the well-settled Ishan Kishan while Chakravarthy claimed the key wickets of Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya to derail Mumbai Indians’ innings. The five-time champions needed 70 off 30 balls before they made a valiant attempt.Tilak Varma blasted a 17-ball 32 and struck a few big hits off Harshit Rana to make it 41 off 12 balls and Naman Dhir hammered a six-ball 17 to take MI needing 22 from the last six balls.Skipper Shreyas Iyer turned to pacer Harshit Rana to bowl the final over instead of the more experienced Mitchell Starc and his decision worked as Rana made a fine comeback and bowled a brilliant final over.Naman Dhir was out for 17 off six on the first ball. A delivery later Harshit Rana got Varma with extra bounce as an attempted slap over point went behind to keeper Salt and Mumbai Indians eventually finished with 139/8 in 16 overs and fell short by 18 runs.On a wicket on which the ball was gripping and rising a bit, Mumbai fettered away the good start as they lost their way around in the middle overs, failing to get the better of KKR spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine.Kishan, who struck successive fours off and followed that up with a six off the final ball of the fourth over bowled by Harshit Rana, switch-hit Sunil Narine for a boundary and a six off successive balls to round off the Power-play.Narine got the breakthrough for KKR when he outfoxed Kishan with a faster carrom ball, and the batter hit it straight to Ramandeep Singh. This was his 550th wicket in T20