The change in captaincy didn’t change Kolkata Knight Riders as they suffered a humiliating defeat against Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi. Eoin Morgan & Co managed to post only 148 runs batting which was convincingly chased down by Mumbai with eight wickets to spare.
With the wickets slowing down, it looked like a game on and halfway stage. But Mumbai Indians openers – Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock ran the show like a boss. The Proteas wicket-keeper brought his third fifty while Rohit was sublime throughout his knock.
Kolkata continue to drop points
It required a brilliant delivery from Shivam Mavi to dismiss Rohit Sharma but by then, Mumbai Indians have almost pocketed the win. Eoin Morgan looked clueless as Quinton de Kock and Hardik Pandya cruised over the rope with ease.
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Earlier in the day, for a major part of the innings, it was all Mumbai Indians as their bowlers ran the show with aplomb. Aided of course, by some half-hearted batting from Kolkata Knight Riders’ batters. When Andre Russell fell, the score read 61/five in the 11th over and there was a real threat of KKR being bundled out for a paltry total.
Being four-five down early doesn’t help – Eoin Morgan
Newly-appointed skipper Eoin Morgan hung in though, and Pat Cummins produced his maiden T20 fifty as the unbroken 87-run stand propelled KKR to 148 runs – something for their bowlers to bowl at. Except for Trent Boult and Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mumbai Indians bowlers were of top-notch.
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KKR skipper Eoin Morgan, who had a disappointing start to his captaincy stint, rued poor batting as the reason behind their defeat. He also added that they are trying to adapt to different situations and vouched to come back strong.
“We weren’t in the race at all really, being four or five down. Managed to get a score on the board but when Mumbai like that, they are hard to stop. Guys fought hard but just not enough runs on the board. No.4, 5 and 6 we have lot of experience. We’re trying to adapt according to the situations. Don’t think it would have made much difference today,” Eoin Morgan said.