IPL 2020 : Mumbai’s First Win in UAE, MI Defeats KKR By 49 Runs Under Rohit’s Captaincy

Dubai : After the captaincy innings of Hitman Rohit Sharma (80 runs, 54 balls, 6 sixes, 3 fours), Mumbai Indians (MI) registered their first win in the UAE by defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with 49 runs. This is also Mumbai’s first win of the season. MI had lost to Chennai in the first match.

Mumbai lost all five matches played in the UAE in 2014 and also their first match of the season. Chasing a target of 196 runs from Mumbai, Kolkata’s team managed to score 146 runs for nine wickets. Captain Karthik (30), Pat Cummins (33) and Nitish Rana (24) were able to survive in front of the Mumbai bowlers. For Mumbai, James Pattinson, Trent Boult, Bumrah and Rahul Chahar took two wickets each. With yesterday’s match, Kolkata lost their opening match for the first time since 2013.

Earlier, Mumbai scored 195 runs for five wickets. Rohit added 90 runs for the second wicket with Suryakumar Yadav (47 runs) and 49 runs for the third wicket with Saurabh Tiwari (21).

Rohit’s 37th fifties:
Pat Cummins came in to bowl in the fifth over. On his short pitch balls, Rohit showed his mastery of pull shot and hit two sixes. Naren and Kuldeep also failed to stop Rohit. Rohit completed 37th half-century of IPL in 39 balls and 61st of T20.

Hardik hit two fours and a six on Narayan’s bowling. He is the first player to be out with a hit wicket in this season of the IPL, while 11th player in the league.

Kolkata’s most expensive player Pat Cummins also proved to be most expensive in bowling. Cummins sold for 15.50 crores in the auction and is the most expensive foreign player in IPL history.

While Rohit hit a six in the first over of Warrier, Suryakumar hit four boundaries in his second over.