KKR 159/3 after 15.1 overs: KKR cruise to a big, big win. Superb bowling effort and then an even better batting performance. Iyer and Tripathi led the way with splendid fifties and MI simply had no answers today.
KKR 147/3 after 14.1 overs: WICKET! Morgan caught in the deep and Bumrah has another wicket. Morgan c Boult b Bumrah 7(8)
KKR 147/2 after 14 overs: Just two runs from the Milne over but it really doesn’t matter at this point.
KKR 145/2 after 13 overs: Every KKR batsman has come in and just gone for the big shots. 17 runs from the Chahar over and KKR now need just 11 runs in 42 balls. A six for Morgan off the last ball and one for Tripathi earlier in the over.
KKR 128/2 after 11.4 overs: WICKET! Iyer falls after a brilliant 53 from 30 balls. Slower ball from Bumrah does him in. Four fours and three sixes in the knock. Venkatesh Iyer b Bumrah 53(30).
KKR 117/1 after 11 overs: Chahar almost got MI the breakthrough. Tripathi top-edged a slog but Chahar running back towards mid-off could not take it. That kind of evening for MI.
KKR 111/1 after 10 overs: Kolkata Knight Riders need 45 runs in 60 balls. MI need something pretty special to make a match out of this from this point on.
KKR 97/1 after 9 overs: The runs continue to flow and for now MI have no answers. Rohit’s team desperately needs a wicket... a change of pace. What can MI do?
KKR 85/1 after 8 overs: Chahar into the attack and KKR get another 11-run over. Two fours in the over – Tripathi with an across-the-line slog and then Iyer with a delicate late cut.
KKR 74/1 after 7 overs: Iyer at it again. Down the track and a six off Krunal. The left-hander just backs himself so much. Singles off the other five balls make it a 11-run over.
KKR 63/1 after 6 overs: Powerplay overs are done and it has been all KKR. Truly fearless cricket on display. Just the start Morgan’s team needed but MI had got a good start too – this is when things started to change. Best Powerplay of the season for KKR. Time for the strategic timeout.
KKR 51/1 after 5 overs: KKR started with spin and it worked for them. MI started with pace and they went for a few runs. But now, Krunal has come into the attack. It will make things interesting. Just three runs from the over.
KKR 48/1 after 4 overs: Shot! Rahul Tripathi gets going with a fierce square-cut for four. Trent Boult returns to the attack and concedes eight runs in his second over after leaking 15 in his first.
KKR 40/1 after 3 overs: WICKET! Bumrah cleans up Gill and lets out a roar! It got the inside edge and rattled the stumps. MI needed that after a flying start for KKR. Both Gill and Iyer picked up fours earlier in the over but Bumrah managed to get his team the much-needed breakthrough.
KKR 30/0 after 2 overs: Six, four and four! Brilliant from Iyer as he takes Milne to the cleaners. The left-hander scored an unbeaten 41 off 27 against RCB in the last game and is looking in fine form again.
KKR 15/0 after 1 over: Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer hit a six each in the first over of the innings by Trent Boult. KKR are up and running in the chase!
MI 155/6 after 20 overs: MI struggled to get going but this just might be that kind of pitch. KKR won’t have it easy given the quality MI possess in their attack. We have an interesting second half coming up.
MI 149/6 after 19.3 overs: WICKET! Krunal finds the fielder in the deep. Another wicket. Nice slower ball by Ferguson. Krunal Pandya c Venkatesh Iyer b Ferguson 12(9)
MI 149/5 after 19.2 overs: WICKET! Pollard is run out! He hit it straight to the fielder and took off. Morgan was alert and Ferguson completed the job. Pollard run out (Morgan/Ferguson) 21(15)
MI 149/4 after 19 overs: Decent over by Russell. Krunal Pandya picked out a slower ball early on and slammed that for six. Still, ended up being just a 10-run over.
MI 139/4 after 18 overs: MI have their biggest over of the innings and Prasidh got things horribly wrong in the over. No-balls, wides and big hits. The over had it all.
MI 119/4 after 16.2 overs: WICKET! Slower ball to start the over and then another. Kishan walking back. MI in trouble here. They need some Pollard magic. Ishan Kishan c Russell b Ferguson 14(13)
MI 119/3 after 16 overs: 13 runs off the Russell over. Kishan started the over with a six over fine leg and then Pollard helped himself to a four. Two very dangerous batsmen in the middle for MI, KKR can’t afford to take it easy.
MI 106/3 after 14.5 overs: WICKET! A change of pace does the trick. Prasidh Krishan strikes to send back QdK. A fine knock but MI need to find some momentum here. de Kock c Narine b Prasidh 55(42)
MI 101/2 after 14 overs: 50 for Quinton de Kock off just 37 balls. MI need him to carry on till the end now. A four off the last ball of the Ferguson might just be the signal MI were looking for. In the last six we go!
MI 89/2 after 12.1 overs: WICKET! After an expensive first over, Prasidh Krishna comes into the attack and he strikes with his first ball. Surya edges that through to the keeper. Suryakumar Yadav c Karthik b Prasidh 5(10)
MI 89/1 after 12 overs: Narine through too. KKR have bowled out their top two spinners. But now what? Can the pacemen keep MI under control or will the shackles now come off?
MI 86/1 after 11 overs: And are KKR putting all their eggs in one basket? Chakravarthy’s four overs are done (4-0-22-0). Narine almost through too.
Fantastic over by Narine - 1 W 0 0 1 1
MI 78/1 after 9.2 overs: WICKET! Narine gets Rohit. The MI skipper went for the big shot, didn’t connect well and is caught on the boundary line. Spin clearly is more difficult to face on this wicket than pace. This is the 8th time Narine has got Rohit’s wicket. Rohit c Shubman Gill b Narine 33 (30)
MI 77/0 after 9 overs: After two quiet overs of spin, Russell was brought into the attack and QdK responded with fours off the first two balls. KKR coach Brendon McCullum says he expects this to be a high-scoring game – ‘a total of around 180’ is expected. 14 runs from the over.
MI 63/0 after 8 overs: Another solid over by Chakravarthy but KKR need a wicket. The longer this duo stays in, the more dangerous MI will become in the second half.
MI 60/0 after 7 overs: Just four runs from the Narine over. KKR needed that after the last two overs.
MI 56/0 after 6 overs: Powerplay overs are done and MI have done well. All their big hitters have a solid platform. Prasidh into the attack and QdK treated him with a fair bit of disdain. A six down the ground and then picked up and hit over the square leg boundary. 27 off 20 for Rohit and 27 off 16 for QdK.
MI 40/0 after 5 overs: Ferguson into the attack and MI’s openers have their first taste of pace today. And QdK certainly loved it. A six off the last ball showing that the left-hander prefers pace to spin.
MI 29/0 after 4 overs: Two fours by Rohit to start the Charkravarthy over but just one run after that. A nine-run over but MI still haven’t got the big over they would have wanted in the Powerplay.
MI 20/0 after 3 overs: Three overs and three different bowlers. Morgan not looking to let the batsmen get set. But MI got two boundaries in the over – one off Rohit’s bat and then a reverse sweep by de Kock off the last ball.
MI 9/0 after 2 overs: Just four runs from the Chakravarthy over. Steady stuff – just the start that KKR would have wanted. MI’s openers just looking to get their eye in for now.
MI 5/0 after 1 over: Rohit eased the first ball through the covers for four but Rana came back pretty well. Just one more run conceded to make it a five-run over.
Nitish Rana to start things off for KKR! Now that is a big surprise.
Playing XIs:
Mumbai Indians: Quinton de Kock (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Saurabh Tiwary, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Adam Milne, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan(c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna
Teams: No changes for KKR. One change for MI — Rohit in, Anmolpreet out. Still no Hardik Pandya for MI.
Toss: KKR win the toss and they are going to bowl first. The wicket still looks well put together, so they will want to repeat what did in the first game.
Hello and welcome to our coverage of match no 34 of IPL 2021. Defending champions Mumbai Indians will look to get back to their winning ways after an uncharacteristic stumble against the Chennai Super Kings in their opener but they will take on a confident Kolkata Knight Riders, who had crushed Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first match of phase two.
With captain Rohit Sharma expected to feature in the playing XI after being rested for the opening game, MI will get a boost. But star all-rounder Hardik Pandya could still be out of the playing XI.
MI are placed fourth in the standings with four wins and four defeats from their eight games while KKR are behind by two points and as many places.