Mumbai Indians registers their win against Kolkata Knight Riders by 49 runs, Rohit Sharma shines in MI victory

Mumbai Indians finally broke their 6-match losing streak in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and defended their 196-run target to win by 49 runs in front of a very lacklustre Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) side, whose batsmen failed to impress much at Dubai's Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday. MI's first-ever win in UAE also meant KKR's first lost in the IPL openers since 2012.

Captain Dinesh Karthik (30 off 23) looked their most impressive batsman but as usual he failed to convert his start into a big one. None of their batsmen looked in good nick and fall of wickets were very frequent in front of a very strong Mumbai Indians bowling line-up. Pacer Pat Cummins (33 off 12), IPL history's costliest buy (Rs 15.5 crores) failed to impress with the ball surpsised one and all by smashing 4 sixes off Bumrah in the 18th over but an innings like that would have been fruitful only if someone like Shubman Gill (7), Eoin Morgan (16) and Andre Russell (11) would have gone berserk before him.

KKR, the 2014 champions, looked really strong on the paper but their performance on the field was certainly below par. Coach Brendon McCullum and Dinesh Karthik will surely have to sit down and figure out where they went wrong, if they at all want to make any major impact on the 13th edition of IPL.

Lots of positivex for Mumbai Indians in the match,



especially in their bowling department as all their 3 pacers (Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah and James Pattinson) got 2 wickets each.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians (MI) had started in style despite South African opener Quinton de Kock's early departure in the second over. Captain Rohit Sharma was at his glorious best as he hit sixes all over Sheikh Zayed Stadium's empty stands. Together with Suryakumar Yadav, he stitched a 90-run partnership off 58 balls for the 2nd wicket. Yadav was run-out in unlucky fashion in the 11th over but Saurabh Tiwary chipped in with a handy 13-ball 21 again.

Narine sent Saurabh Tiwari packing on the first ball of 16th over and brought end to a 49-run partnership with Rohit. MI by that juncture were sitting comfortable on 147-3 and with Rohit still on the crease and Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard still to come, Mumbai Indians were all set to comfortably cross the 200-run mark. But Rohit slowed down before departing for 54-ball 80 which consisted of 6 sixes, Pandya and Pollard failed to capitalise on the advantage as good bowling from young Shivam Mavi and experienced Andre Russell assured that Mumbai are restricted for 195 on board.

Luckily, the loss in momentum did not cost Mumbai Indians much. A brilliant bowling unit led by Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah gave a fairly easy win to the 4-time champions.