Venkatesh Iyer starred with 70 for Kolkata Knight Riders before Mitchell Starc's four-wicket haul eased his side to a 24-run victory over Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. (More Cricket News)
The Knight Riders only managed to post 169 at Wankhede Stadium as Iyer and Maꦑnish Pandey (42) were the only Kolkata batters to pass 15 runs on Friday.
Nuwan Thushara registered figures of 3-42 and Jasprit Bumrah picked up three wickets for just 18 runs as Kolkata limp💯ed to a target that appeared somewhat reachable for Mumbai.
Yet I🐈shan Kishan, Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir all failed to get going in response for the Indians before Suryakumar Yad🍎av's 35-ball 56 promised a tense ending.
However, Andre Russell forced Suryakumar to launch a full toss into the sky for a simple Phil Salt catch – with the West Indian one of three Kolk♐ata bowlers to collect two wic♛kets, along with Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy (both 2-22).
Suryakumer's dismissal teed up Starc's three-wick𒁃et blitz to end the innings wit𒁃h 4-33, moving the Knight Riders up to second in the table as Tim David's quickfire 24 proved redundant for Mumbai.
Data Debrief: Iyer the hero as Mumbai play-off hopes stunted
Ha🐈ving been reduced to 57-5 in the first innings, Iyer stood up with his season-best 70 off just 52 balls – including six fours and three maximums – guiding Kolkata to a commendable target.
This defeat left Mumbai ninth in the table, some six poi🐻nts adrift of the play-offs with just three games remaining – they may live to rue not capitalising on a promising first-innings pos꧋ition.
