Pune: Suryakumar Yadav (52 off 36) made the best of his comeback and combined with belligerent youngster Tilak Varma (38 from 27) to sail Mumbai through a tough period and reach a fighting score of 161-4 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) here on Wednesday.
The KKR bowlers, powered by the return of Pat Cummins (2-49), never let the Mumbai Indians' batsmen go for easy scoring as Umesh Yadav with his relentless speed and tight length picked up Rohit Sharma who scored 3 runs from 12 balls.
While his partner, Ishan Kishan, despite trying hard to stay put for his team succumbed to the intense pressure of KKR bowler to be decimated at 14 runs that came from 21 deliveries.
Kieron Pollard smashed 22 off 5 deliveries to up the scoring run-rate and reach a fight score for MI.
Opting to bowl first on a fresh pitch with plenty of grass, KKR's opening bowlers used the conditions to perfection as pacer Umesh Yadav (1/25) and debutant Rasikh Salam (0/18) relied on back of length deliveries to trouble MI's opening duo of skipper Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan.
Umesh looked more threatening of the two as he consistently tested the high-profile MI opening batters with his probing length, producing a fantastic first over which yielded just one run. Salam tried to match his senior pro.
Umesh struck first blood in the third over with a back-of-length delivery to get Rohit for the fifth time in IPL, with the MI skipper failing to control a pull.
Then came another debutant Dewald Brevis (29), known as 'Baby AB' for his 360 degree shot-making abilities, and he tried to attack the KKR bowlers.
He succeeded in his endeavour for a brief period, hitting two fours and as many sixes, but fell to Varun Chakravarthy (1/32).
All this while, MI's man-in-form Ishan Kishan (14 off 21) was a quiet spectator at the other end. Unlike his last two innings, Kishan seemed to be struggling from the onset and a poor start didn't help his cause either.
Kishan's struggle came to an end in the 11th over when he miscued a pull off Cummins to KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer. Varma got a reprieve in the 13th over when Ajinkya Rahane spooned him after a confusion with Billings.
Yadav struck a four and a huge six in the final two deliveries of the same over to give MI's innings some momentum. Varma grabbed the missed chance with both hand and scooped Cummins over fine leg for a maximum and then followed it with a slash over mid-wicket for a boundary off Chakravarthy.
Yadav, on the other hand, looked in ominous form after returning from injury, dealing mostly in fours and sixes to notch up his fifty in 34 balls.
Brief Scores
Mumbai Indians: 161-4 (Suryakumar Yadav - 52, Tilak Varma - 38), KKR: Pat Cummins - 2/49
