IPL 2023: Ishan Kishan stars as MI defeat KKR, Venkatesh Iyer’s century in vain

Mumbai Indians won two in a row after defeating Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday despite a superb century by Venkatesh Iyer for the visiting side.

Chasing 185, MI posted 186/5 with five wickets and 14 deliveries to spare.

With Rohit Sharma absent from the first half of the match due to a stomach bug, Suryakumar Yadav opted to bowl first. Walking in at No 3, Iyer (104 off 51) played a fabulous knock to score only the second century in the league’s history, after Brendon McCullum’s epic on the opening night back in 2008. There weren’t too many other contributors as KKR posted 185/6 n 20 overs.

Mumbai Indians broke the chase nice and early, riding mainly on Ishan Kishan’s blistering half century. Rohit came out to open the batting as an Impact Player substitute and the regular opening duo were off to a flying start with Ishan Kishan especially on song. Kishan (58 off 25) and Suryakumar Yadav (43 off 25) made sure that MI won comfortably.

IPL 2023: Venkatesh Iyer ends long wait for a KKR century since Brendom McCullum’s in first IPL game

Kishan blasted off in the powerplay while Suryakumar Yadav’s quickfire 43 that brought the home crowd to life, as he looked like returning to form after a rough patch.

The left-handed Kishan gave Mumbai a flying start in a 65-run opening stand with Rohit Sharma, who made 20 off 13 balls after coming in as an impact sub.

Kishan was bowled by leg spinner Varun Chakravarthy but Suryakumar, who got a first-ball duck in the previous match, soon took charge to smash three sixes in his 25-ball blitz.

Shardul Thakur denied Suryakumar his fifty, before Tim David steered the chase with an unbeaten 24.

Earlier the left-handed Iyer struck the second hundred of this IPL season, after Hyderabad’s England import Harry Brook hit a match-winning unbeaten 100 last week.

Iyer got little support from the other end, but took on the opposition attack with six fours and nine sixes before departing in the 18th over.

Kolkata’s new hero Rinku Singh failed to fire in his 18-ball 18, but West Indies big-hitter Andre Russell hit an unbeaten 11-ball 21 to boost the team’s total. In the end, it wasn’t enough.

It was a pretty special day all around in Mumbai, with thousands of children in attendance as part of MI’s Education and Sports For All Day initiative. MI’s women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur was also present with the MI men’s team are wearing the MI women’s team kit from the Women’s Premier League.

Before match too, some unique milestones were reached with Arjun Tendulkar making his debut. Arjun and Sachin Tendulkar are now the first son-father duo to feature in the IPL, with the former Indian stalwart also part of the MI franchise in the early years. Duan Jansen also made his debut and he along with Marco Jansen are now the first pair of twins to feature in the tournament.

With AFP inputs