IPL 2024: As soon as KKR’s place in the playoffs was confirmed, Shreyas Iyer said, ‘Now we will play against any…’

Kolkata. Kolkata Knight Riders, thanks to the strong performance of the pair of spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakraborty, secured a place in the playoffs by defeating Mumbai Indians, who made a fast start, by 18 runs in the rain-interrupted IPL match on Saturday. In front of the disciplined bowling of Mumbai Indians, KKR scored 157 runs for seven wickets with the help of Venkatesh Iyer’s inning of 42 runs in 21 balls. Five-time champions Mumbai Indians, who were already out of the playoff race, could only score 139 runs for eight wickets in reply. At one time Mumbai Indians had scored 65 runs without any loss in 6.4 overs but KKR’s star spinner Narayan gave a big blow by taking the wicket of Ishan Kishan. Ishaan played an explosive inning of 40 runs in 22 balls.

Varun Chakraborty took two wickets for 17 runs and Russell took two wickets for 34 runs. Due to this, KKR sent half the Mumbai Indians team back to the pavilion within the 13th over and allowed them to score only 139 runs for eight wickets in 16 overs. Harshit Rana took two wickets for 34 runs while Narayan took the important wicket of Kishan for 21 runs.

KKR confirmed its place in the last four
In this way, two-time winner KKR confirmed its place in the last four with two matches remaining. The team strengthened its position at the top of the 10-team table with 18 points. This is the first time since 2021 that KKR has made it to the playoffs. KKR will now try to stay in the top two. On Monday it will face Gujarat Titans and on May 19 it will face Royal Challengers Bangalore.

This is Mumbai’s ninth defeat in 13 matches.
Here, this is Mumbai’s ninth defeat in 13 matches and the team will end its campaign with a match against Lucknow Super Giants on May 17. Mumbai Indians made an aggressive start with the help of left-handed opener Kishan with five fours and two sixes. He also hit a boundary on Narayan with a switch hit but in the end Narayan gave his first success to KKR by taking his wicket. Chakraborty ended the innings of Rohit Sharma (19 runs) at the crease in the next over and completed his four-over spell by dismissing Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya. Indian captain Rohit, who entered as an ‘impact’ player, continued to be in poor form and did not appear to be in rhythm.

Earlier, due to rain, the match started late by one hour and 45 minutes and it was reduced to 16-16 overs, after which Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to bowl. Due to continuous rain in the city, the pitch remained covered for three days. KKR made the worst start of the season and lost the wickets of both their openers Phil Salt (06) and Sunil Narine (0) within seven balls.

We are playing excellent cricket: Iyer
After the victory, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer said, ‘Even before the match, I thought that we will win this game. We are playing excellent cricket. The teammates have discharged their responsibilities well. Many friends are game changers. Now we intend to win no matter the circumstances. In today’s match, Mumbai played brilliantly in the first 6 overs but we made a strong comeback. Today was a new day and the weather was bad. We won which is most important.

tag: ipl 2024, ipl kkr vs mi, Shreyas Iyer