IPL 2022: Suryakumar's fifty leads Mumbai Indians to 161/4 against KKR

Pune, April 6 (IANS) A brilliant fifty from Suryakumar Yadav (52 off 36) helped Mumbai Indians post 161/4 against the Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL 2022 match at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, here on Wednesday.

With 55 for 3 in 11 overs, Mumbai were in trouble but Suryakumar played a solid knock along with Tilak Varma (38 off 27) to help his side post a respectable total. They added 83 runs for the fourth wicket.

Invited to bat first, Mumbai Indians had a poor start as Umesh Yadav got rid of skipper Rohit Sharma to give KKK the first breakthrough in the 3rd over of the innings. Rohit tried to take on a short ball that was pounded into the deck quite hard but he could only eke out a top-edge with wicket-keeper Sam Billings running backwards and pouching it safely.

The wicket brought debutant Dewald Brevis at the crease and from the very beginning he looked in solid touch even against an aggressive Umesh. His stroke-play injected a bit of momentum into Mumbai's innings and Ishan Kishan was also happy to play the second fiddle as they took their team to 35/1 after 6 overs.

KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer then introduced spin after the end of powerplay and both batters chose to not get too adventurous against Sunil Narine. But Brevis (29 off 19) smacked the first ball he faced from Varun Chakravarthy for a six. The shot was then followed by three dots. Brevis missed the 5th ball of the over and Billings was quick to whip off the bails.

Suryakumar, who was playing his first match of the season, then joined Kishan at the crease and tried to rebuild the innings for Mumbai. But the run-rate was dropping with every passing over and the pressure was building on Kishan, who wasn't at his absolute best. The southpaw's struggling innings finally came to an end after Cummins dismissed him on a short ball. It could have been worse for Mumbai but Billings and Rahane had miscommunication while trying to grab a catch and it was put down as Tilak Verma got a lifeline.

Taking full advantage of the dropped catch, Varma hit a few adventurous shots and gave some impetus to Mumbai's innings while Suryakumar also complimented him well with few timely boundaries. Both Suryakumar and Varma kept the scoreboard ticking and helped MI cross the 100-run mark in the 17th over of the innings.

From there on, it was no looking back for Suryakumar and Varma, who went on rampage and scored 17 and 14 runs respectively in the 17th and 18th over respectively. After hitting a fine fifty Suryakumar got out in the first ball of the 20th over but Kieron Pollard provided the sparkling fireworks by smashing Cummins for three sixes.

Overall, Mumbai scored 76 runs in the last 5 overs and ended with 161-4 on the board. Kieron Pollard (22 not out off 5) and Tilak Varma (38 not out off 27) remained unbeaten at the crease. On the other hand, Pat Cummins (2/49) was the most successful bowler for KKR while Umesh Yadav (1/25) and Varun Chakaravarthy (1/32) also chipped in with one wicket each.

Brief scores:

Mumbai Indians: 161/4 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 52, Tilak Varma 38 not out; Pat Cummins 2/49) vs Kolkata Knight Riders