IPL 2023: Top moments from MI vs KKR in Mumbai

Mumbai Indians (MI) continued their upward march and maintained their dominance over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after scripting a five-wicket victory at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.

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While KKR received a major boost in the form of a maiden T20 hundred for the in-form Venkatesh Iyer, they couldn’t quite build on that knock and post a challenging total in excess of 200.

And much like their successful chase against the Delhi Capitals earlier this week, Mumbai’s top order once again clicked as a unit and got the team off to a fiery start, with the middle-order making the most of that start and ensuring the asking rate remained very much under control.

In the end, Mumbai got home with more than two overs to spare to give their Net Run Rate a fair boost and climb to the eighth spot on the points table.

Looking back at the events of Match 22 of IPL 2023, we bring to you five defining moments from the game:

Tendulkar finally makes his debut

For those who grew up watching cricket in the nineties and noughties, it’s so good to see the word ‘Tendulkar’ flash on television screens once again. Eight years after the legendary Sachin Tendulkar brought the curtains down on his international career, his son Arjun made his IPL debut at his home ground of the Wankhede Stadium during MI’s clash against KKR.

What’s more, the left-arm seamer — who received his maiden cap from Rohit Sharma — bowled the first over of the Kolkata innings, starting off on a tidy note by giving away just five runs. He would concede 12 off his second over in the powerplay before being taken off the attack.

He may have bowled just two overs today, will it’s certainly a start for Junior Tendulkar in the biggest T20 league in the world. Who knows, a big performance could be just around the corner later this season.

Iyer end a long century drought for KKR

Venkatesh Iyer, meanwhile, is in some form this season. After falling short of the three-figure mark during KKR’s chase of the 205-run target against Gujarat Titans, a game in which he would have bagged the Player of the Match award had it not been for Rinku Singh’s flurry of sixes towards the end, Iyer finally brought up his maiden T20 hundred in style against MI in Mumbai, taking just 49 balls to reach the milestone.

What’s more, Iyer ended a 15-year wait for another century from a KKR batter after Brendon McCullum smashed a memorable 158 in the first-ever IPL match against RCB at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The left-handed batter though, departed shortly after bringing up the milestone, falling for a 51-ball 104. Even worse was the fact that his knock would ultimately go in vain as nobody else, except perhaps Suyash Sharma with the ball, stood up for the Knight Riders on the day.

SKY finally shakes off the rust

With Rohit Sharma down with a stomach bug, it was Suryakumar Yadav’s turn to lead the Mumbai Indians for the first time. And boy did he pull off a decent job, guiding MI to a rather comfortable victory over KKR. Had it not been for Iyer’s heroics with the bat, the match would’ve been over well before toss at the Gujarat Titans-Rajasthan Royals game in Ahmedabad.

While he did a fair job as captain on the day, it was his return to form with the bat that was even more commendable, given the kind of horror run that SKY had been having both in international cricket as well as in the first three games this IPL season.

While he was slightly cautious to begin with, he soon teed off after both openers found themselves back in the dugout, smashing a 25-ball 43 that contained four fours and three maximums — one of which was his trademark pickup shot beyond square on the leg side. In the end, the stand-in captain would’ve been disappointed to not finish the game himself and collect a fifty on the way.

Rohit Sharma, the Impact Player

It’s not everyday that you see Rohit Sharma walk out to bat, not as the Mumbai Indians captain. In a rather unique incident, Rohit not only sat out while his teammates fielded under the scorching afternoon sun at the Wankhede citing a stomach bug, handing the leadership duties to Surya, he later came in as the Impact Player in place of Arjun Tendulkar at the start of Mumbai’s chase of the 186-run target.

Boy would some cricketers back in the day, especially at a time when fitness wasn’t paramount for batters, have loved the ‘Impact Player’ rule.

Rohit though, did make an impact in the end, collecting a boundary and two maximums in a 13-ball 20 and stitching an attacking opening stand with Ishan Kishan before getting dismissed thanks to a blinder by Umesh Yadav at mid off.

Kishan off to yet another fiery start

While it wasn’t exactly a smooth sailing for Ishan Kishan with the keeper’s gloves as he missed a couple of chances behind the stumps, he more than made up for it by assuming charge at the start of Mumbai’s chase and laying the foundation for a comfortable victory with a fiery half-century that came in just 21 deliveries, helping Mumbai collect 72 runs in an extremely productive powerplay.

Kishan had got off to promising starts against Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals in the last two games, but wasn’t able to convert them into bigger scores until today, where he was able to play a major role in the successful chase.

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