ABU DHABI: Mumbai Indians were back on top of the Indian Premier League after polishing off Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets with 19 balls to spare yesterday.
Dinesh Karthik gave up the Kolkata captaincy to concentrate on his batting and was out for 4 as his team posted a middling 148-5.
Mumbai made no race of the chase, as captain Rohit Sharma late cut the first delivery to the boundary, and fellow opener Quinton de Kock finished on 78 not out off 44 balls to get them to 149-2 in the 17th over and their fifth straight win.
Sharma hit the first four boundaries for Mumbai then de Kock smacked the next eight boundaries and two sixes.
By the time their partnership was split when Sharma edged behind on 35 in the 11th over at 94-1, Mumbai’s required rate was down to a run a ball.
Earlier, Kolkata decided to bat first and struggled. Only five boundaries were hit in the first seven overs.
Rahul Tripathi was out for 7 to a splendid Yadav catch, and Shubman Gill and Karthik were dismissed in consecutive balls by Rahul Chahar to leave them 42-4.
Legspinner Chahar was miserly with figures of 4-0-18-2, along with fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who had 4-0-22-1.
Cummins ended up 53 not out, and new captain Eoin Morgan on 39 not out. They plundered 87 runs off the last 9.2 overs, especially off fast bowlers Nathan Coulter-Nile and Trent Boult.
But Mumbai showed it wasn’t enough.