In Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) Match 51, held on May 3 at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, the Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders traded punches. MI chose to bowl first after winning the toss. KKR had a disastrous start, losing four wickets in the powerplay and then another wicket on the first ball of the first six overs. The innings stabilised, though, thanks to Venkatesh Iyer and Impact Sub Manish Pandey. With a score of 169, Iyer was able to put the visitors in contention with 70 runs off 52 balls.
Over the Mumbai Indians, the Kolkata Knight Riders won by a score of 24 runs. With four wickets to help limit Mumbai to 145 runs, Mitchell Starc was instrumental in KKR’s victory. The rest of the MI batting lineup struggled against the KKR pacers, despite Suryakumar Yadav’s outstanding 56-run innings. KKR completed the innings and won at the Wankhede for the first time in twelve years with Yadav’s departure.
In the IPL 2024, the MI Indians are losing this war.
In the event that MI wins its four games and the Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad lose their final games—all save their head-to-head match—all three clubs may have finished equal for third place. But if they score 12 points apiece in the final three games following their loss to KKR, the Mumbai Indians may be among the seven teams fighting for a single postseason spot. With this victory, the Kolkata Knight Riders have put an early end to the confusion surrounding the points table for the lower-ranked teams.
Also read: IPL 2024: Mumbai Indians vs. Kolkata Knight Riders, 51st Match: Who Said What?
“Obviously, in the batting inning, we were unable to establish partnerships and continued to lose wickets; in T20s, it will be costly to do so. Not much; there are a lot of questions, and it will take time to address them. As of right now, not much can be said. The bowlers performed a great job, as you indicated, and after the first inning, the surface improved a little bit before the dew arrived. We’ll play through the game to determine what we could have done better. It’s difficult, but hardships make you stronger. That’s what I remind myself: never give up on the battlefield. Hardik Pandya spoke these words to himself following the game.