May 15 () : Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) kept their fourth place on the table intact with a well-planned chase over Mumbai Indians(MI).

Kolkata Knight Riders winning the toss , opted to bowl. The opening pair of Mumbai Indians yet again failed to give a good start with Gautham returning to the dug-out in the 3rd over for 8. Simmons was off to a slow start again, but unlike the other night, was unable to capitalize on the start and was dismissed by Shakib for 12 off 14 balls in the 6th over.

Rayudu continued his good form this season and scored 33 off 27 balls with 3 boundaries and a six before being dismissed by Chawla caught off Yadav. At the fall of Rayudu’s wicket, MI were only at 70/3 in 12 overs, with a run rate less than 6. The ever reliable Narine, who for the umpteenth time gave away only 18 runs in his 4 overs for 1 wicket bowled in tandem with Shakib who supported him by allowing only 21 runs to be scored off him.

Rohit Sharma who had scored only 22 off 30 ball till the 15th over, opened up in the 16th over bowled by Morkel hitting him for 2 sixes, one over long off and one over extra cover. Anderson ( 18 off 12) helped improve the run rate hitting Chawla for a six and a boundary. Narine gave away only 4 runs in the last over of the innings and was rewarded with the wicket of Rohit Sharma.  On a pitch that was slow and was not bouncing, the target of 142 was still a challenge.

Gambhir and Uthappa scored 50 for the opening stand for the fourth match running.  Gambhir was out for 14 off 18 , chopping the ball on to his stumps off the bowling of Harbhajan. Man of the match Uthappa kept the chase going by scoring briskly reaching his 50 off only 34 balls. With that, he became the highest scorer among Indian batsmen in IPL 7.

With 42 required off 30 balls, Simmons bowling the 16th over was welcomed with a six over wide long-off. Uthappa followed it with another six off the very next delivery over extra cover bringing down the required runs to 30 off 28 balls in just 2 deliveries. Simmons had something to cheer about at the end of the over as he castled Uthappa, but not before he had scored 80 runs of just 52 deliveries studded with 9 hits to the boundary and 3 sixes.

Pathan who has been under a lot of pressure to perform, in the company of Shakib, finally delivered with a 13 ball 20 , hitting the winning runs in the 19th over off Malinga. Post this loss, Mumbai Indians now will need to win the remaining 4 matches and pray for other results to go their way if they need to have a remote chance of getting into the play offs.

IPL 7 Points Table

Table Courtesy : espncricinfo.com