Kolkata Knight Riders kept their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 playoff hopes alive with a four-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens on Thursday, thanks to crucial knocks from Rovman Powell and Manish Pandey.
With their sixth win in the last seven matches, KKR climbed to sixth place in the points table with six wins, six losses and one no result. Mumbai Indians remained ninth with four wins and nine defeats.
Chasing 148, KKR got off to a brisk start as Finn Allen struck two boundaries off Deepak Chahar before falling in the same over for eight off five balls, leaving the hosts at 10/1 after one over.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey steadied the innings and accelerated in the fourth over, collecting 14 runs off Jasprit Bumrah with the help of three boundaries. The partnership added 38 runs before Corbin Bosch dismissed Rahane for 21 off 17 balls, which included four fours. Bosch struck again in the same over to remove Cameron Green for four, reducing KKR to 54/3 in 7.1 overs.
Pandey and Rovman Powell rebuilt the innings, taking KKR to 84/3 at the halfway mark. KKR crossed the 100-run mark in the 13th over as Pandey continued to anchor the chase, while Powell attacked Raghu Sharma with two boundaries in the same over.
Bumrah broke the stand by dismissing Pandey for 45 off 33 balls, an innings featuring six fours, with KKR at 118/4 in 15 overs. Allah Ghazanfar then removed Powell for 40 off 30 deliveries, including three fours and two sixes, leaving KKR at 124/5.
Tejasvi Dahiya and Rinku Singh guided KKR closer to victory before Bosch dismissed Dahiya for 11 off 12 balls at 140/6 in 18.5 overs. KKR eventually reached 148/6 in 18.5 overs, with Rinku Singh unbeaten on nine and Anukul Roy on four.
Earlier, KKR produced a disciplined bowling performance to restrict Mumbai Indians to 147/8 after opting to field first.
Mumbai made a cautious start before Cameron Green struck twice in the third over, dismissing Ryan Rickelton for six and Naman Dhir for a duck, leaving MI at 17/2. Saurabh Dubey then removed Rohit Sharma for 15 in the next over as Mumbai slipped to 24/3.
Dubey struck again in the sixth over to dismiss Suryakumar Yadav for 15 off six balls, including two fours and a six, with MI ending the powerplay at 46/4.
Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya attempted to rebuild the innings before rain briefly interrupted play with Mumbai at 57/4 after eight overs. Following the resumption, the pair added 43 runs before Kartik Tyagi dismissed Tilak for 20 off 32 balls in the 14th over.
Sunil Narine then cleaned up Hardik Pandya for 26 off 27 deliveries in the 16th over. Will Jacks was run out for 14 in the 17th over following a mix-up with Corbin Bosch as Mumbai slipped to 115/7 after 18 overs.
Bosch provided late momentum with an unbeaten 32 off 18 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes, to push Mumbai to 147/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
For KKR, Saurabh Dubey and Cameron Green picked up two wickets each, returning figures of 2/34 and 2/23 respectively. Kartik Tyagi claimed 2/37, while Sunil Narine finished with 1/13.
(ANI Inputs)
