Rating charts

MI  8.5/10 - Entertaining approach. Mumbai didn’t hold back at all and the duo of Rohit and QDK started taking them on early. Picked the lengths beautifully and negated early spin threat to set up a fine base for the run-chase. 

KKR  6/10 - Comparatively better if you take the 8th over out of the equation but that exposed the frailties in their batting line-up. Especially Andre Russell, whose inability to bat long in the middle overs was exposed big-time, as was his inability to take on express pace bowlers, against whom he is dismissed in every 12 balls in T20s. Cummins’ batting, however, was a big positive.

MI 8/10 - Nothing justifies the carnage. Nothing adds more credibility than what was on show in the middle overs. Mumbai Indians just proved why they are the best T20 team in the planet currently. You can never really have enough of it.

MI  6.5/10 - One of NCN’s overs went for 21. Boult delivered 14 runs in one but the rest three overs yielded 18 runs in total. Mumbai were mighty with the old ball, just that Pat Cummins didn’t give a solitary damn. But on the back of the base they had, 53 runs at death was a nice undertaking MI wouldn’t mind.

KKR  3/10 - The game had become a formality by then and it was all because of the inadequate dynamism shown by the Eoin Morgan-led side. Bowlers were trying much early on, which left the team in a position of no return.

Shubman Gill needs to take a hard look at his batting

Sure enough, it was a weird day for the KKR batting line-up - or usual, if you want to see it that way - but the cause of concern has to be Shubman Gill. The young opener’s slow start has been a cause of concern for a while now and today it escalated further. Gill took 23 balls for his 21 before being dismissed, leaving the middle-order to play catch-up. It would have been okay if he had tried to accelerate but in reality, he never looked in the mood to hit out. It is a recurring pattern now.

You might have a thousand reasons to bowl one, but one sight of Rohit Sharma slumbering back should be enough not to try a short ball to him. What was Prasidh Krishna thinking? After a terrific delivery, he bowled a short ball to Rohit, which is criminal if they haven’t already. Not to barge onto Krishna for one bad delivery, but this has been a recurring theme this IPL without any visible amount of success. It’s time IPL passes this as a rule that you can’t bowl short to Rohit at all.

Mumbai’s dominance is unreal

Turning Point

Even after Shubman Gill’s dismissal, there was an opportunity for DK and Morgan to bat long together and build the innings but alas DK, who stepped down from captaincy to concentrate on his batting, threw his wicket away with a botched paddle-sweep against a floaty outside the off-stump delivery. It could’ve been avoided to bring sanity to the game. KKR, really, never recovered from that blow.

Pat Cummins’ knock, Jasprit Bumrah’s aggression, Trent Boult’s pace, Rahul Chahar’s effervescence, and many more. This was a fairly entertaining game, although it got done and dusted without any fuss.