Mumbai Indians defeat KKR to set up final against Rising Pune Supergiants

Mumbai Indians proved to be the nemisis of KKR yet again as they denied the two time champions another shot at the title.

Mumbai Indians (MI) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by six wickets in 14.3 overs and advance to the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Bengaluru on Friday. Chasing a paltry 108 runs, MI lost three early wickets, but Rohit Sharma and Krunal Pandya took the team closer to victory. For Mumbai, Krunal Pandya (45 not out) scored the highest. For Kolkata, Piyush Chawla finished with the figures of two for 34 in his four overs. Now, Mumbai Indians will face Rising Pune Supergiant in the IPL 2017 Final at Hyderabad on May 21.

Opting to field after Rohit Sharma won the toss, Mumbai bowled out Kolkata for a paltry 107 in 18.5 overs, and then chased down the target with 33 balls to spare at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Leg-spinner Karn Sharma was the star performer with the ball for Mumbai, returning excellent figures of 4/16 – the joint best effort by a spinner in an IPL knockout game, while Jasprit Bumrah provided fine support to pick 3/7 in three overs.
Mumbai exploited the conditions and rattled Kolkata batsmen from the very first over, having them on the mat at 31 for five in seven overs, after Rohit Sharma opted to field. After Bumrah dismissed Chris Lynn for four in the second over, the 29-year-old Sharma emerged as the wrecker-in-chief, sending back KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir (12) and Colin de Grandhomme (0) off consecutive balls, besides castling Narine in the fifth over.
Man of the match Karn Sharma, who returned with figures of 4/16, said he had worked very hard and was happy that it’s paying off. After a disappointing last season, the leggie is happy to wickets for his team.