India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah produced his best bowling display of IPL-15 by grabbing a sensational 5 for 10 for Mumbai Indians against Kolkata Knight Riders here at the DY Patil Stadium on Monday. Bumrah, who had claimed just five wickets earlier, took two wickets in his second over and three—including two in successive balls—in his third as MI restricted Knight Riders to 165 for nine.
At the time of going to press, MI were 32-2 in five overs. MI skipper Rohit Sharma departed for two in the first over. Bumrah captured the wickets of the dangerous-looking Andre Russell and Nitish Rana (43 in 26 balls with three fours and four sixes) in his second over. He picked up three more—Sheldon Jackson, Pat Cummins and Sunil Narine—in four balls in the third over without conceding a run. He gave away just one more run in the last over to complete his quota.
Left-arm spinner Kumar Karthikeya had earlier dismissed both openers Venkatesh Iyer (43 in 24 balls with three fours and four sixes) and Ajinkya Rahane (25) earlier after the opening duo had raised KKR’s best stand of 60 for the season, bettering their 43 made in the season-opener against defending champions Chennai Super Kings. Venkatesh showed his attacking instincts early on itself when he hit leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin for a six and a four in the second over of the innings. He repeated the same sequence against Riley Meredith to help the score move on to 48 by the end of the fifth over.
Back in the XI after being dropped a few games ago, Venkatesh slog swept Karthikeya for his fourth six. But the bowler had his revenge in the same over, the last of Powerplay, by forcing the tall left-hander to top edge another attempted slog for an easy catch to point. At the end of the 10th over, KKR had 87 on board, but then, lost Rahane, also in the XI after a long gap, as the batter attempted a reverse sweep and was bowled by Karthikeya.Rana took over the attacking reins for a while as he and captain Shreyas Iyer put on 36 runs before the latter was caught behind off a leg-break from Ashwin.
