3133dThe Report by Mohammad Isam

Mumbai stay alive with last-over thriller

Rohit Sharma's decision to give Kieron Pollard the final over was a masterstroke, as the medium-pacer kept his nerve to defend 12 runs

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

HH Pandya
HH Pandya
61(31) 8x4 - 2x6
Control %73%
  • Productive Shot
  • pull
  • 22 runs
  • 3x4 - 1x6
7 8 3 12 5 6 9 11
YK Pathan
YK Pathan
52(37) 5x4 - 2x6
Control %80%
  • Productive Shot
  • cut shot
  • 11 runs
  • 2x4 - 0x6
8 1 4 1 5 18 5 10

Best performances - Bowlers

Shakib Al Hasan
Shakib Al Hasan
O4
M0
R22
W2
Eco5.5
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
KA Pollard
KA Pollard
O1
M0
R6
W1
Eco6
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF

Match Details

Toss

Kolkata Knight Riders , elected to field first

Player Of The Match

Season

Hours of play (local time)

20.00 start, First Session 20.00-21.30, Interval 21.30-21.50, Second Session 21.50-23.20

Match days

14 May 2015 - night match (20-over match)

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Points

Mumbai Indians 2, Kolkata Knight Riders 0

Commentator: Karthik Krishnaswamy

END OF OVER:
20 | 6 Runs 1 Wkt | KKR: 166/7 (6 runs required, RR: 8.30)

  • Piyush Chawla1 (7b)
  • Umesh Yadav5 (2b)
  • Kieron Pollard1-0-6-1
  • Lasith Malinga4-0-31-1

12.00pm And that's it from all of us. It was a fun game to bring to you, and we hope you enjoyed following it. Do keep joining us, and keep sending in your comments. Until next time, good night!

Hardik Pandya is the man of the match. "Before every game I talk to Ricky. Pollard told me to take my time at the start, he told me I can cover up later. Even Sachin sir is helping a lot, how I can improve my game. I can say now that I can bat a bit. They have faith in me. It was good [Gambhir] got out next ball [after I dropped him]. It was a relief."

Rohit Sharma: "It was a very nerve-racking game. We all know it went to the last over but we held our nerves, and it was a wonderful game for the spectators. When we were batting, the ball was stopping, odd ball was gripping and turning, so we didn't know exactly what the par score was. Normally it's a 180 wicket, but this was a different wicket, a little slow. During the strategic time-out [we decided Pollard would bowl the last over]. Polly has been in that situation before. It was a gamble, but looking at his body language, his confidence, I knew I could throw him the ball and he would do the job."

DKGP: "RR would be the second happiest team with this result. Now their qualification is in their hands"

Shubham: "Pollard shows us that he can not only play slower innings but can also bowl slower balls."

Kausthub G: "First IPL season where each team lost atleast 5 matches!"

Gautam Gambhir: "I always felt that letting them score 170 was not a great effort from our bowlers. Hardik played a brilliant innings, but our bowling and fielding were not up to the mark. We did well to get it down to the last over, but we kept losing wickets at crucial junctures. Yusuf played a very good knock. Letting them score 170 was the game-changer, especially after the first 15 overs they had. We needed to be more clever in the death overs. You can't let anyone score 70 in five overs. Nothing comes easy for KKR. We've always had to work hard and scrape through, I hope we get our number one game for the 16th."

11.45pm Phew. With 12 to get from one over and Yusuf Pathan still batting, you would have put your money on KKR, but Pollard produced an excellent over under pressure. His innings was far, far slower than anything he's played before, but it kept Mumbai's innings together and provided excellent support to Hardik Pandya at the end. And then, without having bowled a ball before, he stepped up to send down that over. Chawla ends up with 1 off 7 balls.

All manner of mayhem in the league table. Three points separate CSK in first place from RCB in sixth. Mumbai have sneaked back into the top four.

19.6
0
Pollard to Chawla, no run, and another slower ball, and another swing and miss. He came down the track this time, but again the angle across him, and the lack of pace, defeated his across-the-line swish. What a final over from Pollard

Six off one ball.

19.5
0
Pollard to Chawla, no run, and again, this one's a bit wider and he swings across the line and only makes contact with air
19.4
0
Pollard to Chawla, no run, this time he gets the slower ball right, it's just outside off, and Chawla swings and misses
19.4
1w
Pollard to Chawla, 1 wide, goes for the slower ball angled across Chawla, overdoes the angle, and it ends up waay outside off stump

Seven off three. Chawla hit a six in a similar situation against Kings XI.

19.3
1
Pollard to UT Yadav, 1 run, shortish slower ball on off stump, swiped towards midwicket
19.2
4
Pollard to UT Yadav, FOUR, oh my. That was terrible fielding from Malinga. It was a slower ball on middle and leg, and Umesh slogged at it and sent it running away to the left of short fine leg. He dived to his left, ended up falling over the ball, and it ran away for four

Consistency

4

Number of consecutive 25+ scores for Yusuf Pathan this IPL. This is the second time he has done this in T20s.

Scoring big and fast

191

Hardik Pandya's strike rate this IPL, the second-highest for any batsman (after Andre Russell) who has scored 100+ runs.

Strong finish

12.4

Mumbai Indians run rate in the last five overs of an innings this IPL, easily the highest for any team.

Not kicking on

86.8

Pollard's strike rate during his innings of 33 off 38 balls is the slowest of his T20 career when he has faced at least 25 balls.

A Landmark

5019

Number of T20 runs scored by Rohit Sharma. He is the 2nd Indian (after Raina) and the 10th batsman overall to score 5000 runs.

A Taste for Knights

1

Number of batsmen who have scored 500+ runs against KKR in the IPL - Rohit Sharma is the only one.

In and Out

20

Number of times Parthiv Patel has been dismissed in the 20s in an IPL match, the second-most after MS Dhoni (22)

Getting an early hit

5

Number of times Pollard has come out to bat inside the first 7 overs of an IPL match.

The KKR Web

3

Number of 4-wicket hauls picked up by KKR's spinners this IPL, the most for any team. 5 of the 8 teams have no such hauls.

On a streak

3

Number of consecutive games that Mumbai Indians have currently lost against the Kolkata Knight Riders