Indian Premier League 2015 - 1st Match
(Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians at Kolkata)
KKR begin title defence with win at home
| MI | vs | KKR |
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| 168/3 (20) | 170/3 (18.3) | |
| KKR won by 7 wickets | ||
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| Photo © BCCI |
We will be reminded time and again via highlights reel how IPL is the breeding ground for best fielding in known universe, but what will not be mentioned is that on the opening night of its eighth edition seven catches were dropped. Kolkata Knight Riders let three slip, Mumbai Indians outdid them, and fittingly the defending champions got their campaign off to a victorious start. Morne Morkel was the one outstanding player on a night of otherwise unremarkable cricket, bowling four overs in one go for 18 runs and two wickets. That start from Morkel meant Mumbai were stifled for more than half of their innings, and despite the 88 they scored in the last six overs they were about 20 light. Helped by the sloppy fielding and ineffective bowling, Knight Riders were efficient in the chase with Gautam Gambhir scoring a fifty, and Manish Pandey and Suryakumar Yadav chipping in with fifties.
Knight Riders, especially at home, have relied on their superior bowling if not necessarily to take wickets but at least to restrict sides and force them into making mistakes. Rohit Sharma, who scored 98 not out, was fluent right from the start, but Knight Riders were all over the rest of the top order. This was Rohit's 10th fifty-plus score in an IPL defeat, the most by any batsman. Aaron Finch top-edged Morkel to put a brake on the runs. Aditya Tare chipped Shakib Al Hasan straight to long-off, neither looking to keep the ball down nor looking to hit a six. This wouldn't be Tare's last mistake on the night.
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| Photo © BCCI |
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