IPL 2023 Live Report - Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai

They started the campaign with two losses and have bounced back to register two straight wins now, to go up to eighth place on the points table, by overtaking SRH. Things have started to fall in place for Mumbai, especially in their batting; Kishan is hammering boundaries, Tilak was scoring runs already, and Rohit and Suryakumar are back among the runs again before the big hitters Tim David and Cam Green.

They took a big risk today by playing two inexperienced left-arm quicks in Arjun Tendulkar (for his IPL debut) and Duan Jansen, but it didn't hurt them as much as only Venkatesh Iyer got going for KKR. Chawla stepped up again with his experience, and so did the younger Hrithik Shokeen.

KKR, meanwhile, continue to suffer at the hands of Mumbai, especially at Wankhede. They have beaten Mumbai on this ground just once in 10 games in the IPL. Overall too, Mumbai have dominated the head to heads with 23 wins out of 32 games.

Or did he ever go anywhere? The three straight ducks came in ODIs last month, and his three low scores - including another duck - to start the IPL might have made Mumbai worry a little bit, he always had all the backing of the team management to get going again. Here's what Tim David had said of him yesterday:

"I don’t have any concerns about Surya. You saw in the last game, he played a shot that he plays all the time and normally it goes for six. He was prepared to put his innings on the line for the team and walked out in that situation to do that. He’s an important part of our team, as much as everyone, and we know that when he is in his best form, he’s going to be scoring 90s, 100s and winning games for us and we’re looking forward to seeing that."

He has just played two jaw-dropping pick-up shots on the leg side for sixes, and he is middling pretty much everything, especially the flicks. On 37 off 20 with three sixes after 13 overs. Mumbai need 39 off 42 after smashing Dre Russ for 17 runs in an over.

After it looked like LSG captain KL Rahul had forgotten to bowl Ravi Bishnoi until the 15th over of the chase, today we're seeing KKR bringing on Lockie Ferguson after 10 overs, when Mumbai have already scored 110 of the 187 runs required. The question begging to be asked is why didn't Nitish Rana bring on Ferguson when Kishan and Rohit had been dismissed and there were two new batters at the crease? He could have leaked runs too, but trying out your speedster when only 76 are required from 60 balls hardly makes any sense.

He comes on for the 11th and is smashed for back-to-back sixes by Suryakumar Yadav on the leg side. Mumbai need 63 off 54 now.

The question is: how to stop Mumbai Indians? They are on a comfortable 90 for 2 after eight overs, and even though the set batters - Rohit and Kishan - are gone, they pretty much deflated this KKR bowling attacking before walking back. They smashed Narine for 22 in an over, and even though Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma are trying to help KKR fight back, Mumbai are going at a comfortable 11.25 an over and the asking rate is just eight an over. Suryakumar and Tilak Varma are out there, and for some reason KKR are yet to bowl Lockie Ferguson.

Five fours and as many sixes blasted in the first four overs, most of them by Kishan, and Mumbai have dominated KKR by hammering their best bowler - Narine - for most runs, 22 off the fourth over. Proper carnage here.

Rohit Sharma comes in as an Impact Sub for Meredith; he's going to open with Ishan Kishan. Are KKR going to strangle him with Sunil Narine's spin early on? He has bowled just one over in the powerplay in each game so far. Why Narine against Rohit? Here's the match-up: 183 of 170, nine dismissals, SR 108. Nobody has dismissed Rohit more often than that in T20s.

Some other match-ups for Rohit to watch out for:

Rohit vs Umesh in powerplays in IPL: SR 94.33 in and two wickets.

Rohit vs Ferguson in all T20s: 67 off 31, no dismissals.

Venkatesh Iyer's strike rate: 203.92

Other KKR batters' combined strike rate: 97.1

Venkatesh Iyer fell soon after his century and there were 16 balls left in the innings, of which KKR have managed 26 runs. Meredith first conceded just five runs in the over (18th) in which he dismissed Venkatesh. Then Andre Russell and three wides took Jansen for 15, and finally Meredith tried to mix his slower balls, short balls, and wide yorkers against Dre Russ, who managed two fours in the last over by throwing his bat at everything for 10 in the over after he faced all six balls.

It's the first KKR century since Brendon McCullum's epic knock all those years ago in 2008.

His highest T20 score was 88* until today, and on this sultry Sunday afternoon in Mumbai, after getting hit around his knee early, Venkatesh Iyer has lifted his team single-handedly with a stunning century. A hundred with five fours and nine sixes, with a staggering strike rate of 204, while no other team-mate of his has struck at even 120.

Matt Roller is also at the Wankhede: It hasn't been a free-flowing or particularly aesthetically-pleasing innings from Venkatesh Iyer, but he has shown the value of attacking intent in this format -- particularly on a relatively small ground and against an inexperienced bowling attack. According to ESPNcricinfo's metrics, he has only been in control of 71% of the balls he has faced this afternoon but Mumbai have struggled to tie him down, often straying onto his pads or into his ribs as reflected in his heavy scoring either side of square leg.

Venkatesh's stock has fallen somewhat since his breakout season in IPL 2021, which culminated in an India call-up and a retention on INR 8 crore ahead of the 2022 mega auction, and he has been used as an Impact Player whenever KKR have bowled first this year. But this innings - somehow, the first by a KKR batter since McCullum's opening-night 158 - has been a real statement, a reminder of just how effective his long levers can be.

Shardul Thakur, meanwhile, holes out to deep midwicket off Shokeen for 13. KKR 124 for 4 after 13 overs. Out walks their new hero Rinku Singh.

Shardul Thakur just nudged a ball fine down the leg side for four and it was the first boundary of the innings not hit by Venkatesh Iyer. Venkatesh, meanwhile, is storming towards his maiden T20 century. He has been hitting the ball all around the park, and is on 83 off 37 after KKR are 117 for 3 in 12 overs.

Sampath tells me it's three fifties in four innings for Venkatesh Iyer vs MI.

Meanwhile, KKR have sent out Shardul Thakur at No. 5! A trick from their new coach Chandrakant Pandit? Thakur steps out a long way on his first ball against Shokeen, misses the ball completely and gets a life as Kishan doesn't collect the ball, let alone think about the stumping.

Nitish Rana lobs a catch to long-off and has to walk back for 5. But not without getting some words from the bowler Hrithik Shokeen. Just when Rana saw the catch had been taken and started to walk back from neat the pitch, Shokeen said something to Rana that seems to have ticked him off. Rana replied, Shokeen made a gesture that looked like "go back" and Rana was furious in his next reply, before they were pretty much separated by Suryakumar.

What's the deal? They are Delhi team-mates in the domestic circuit.

They have raced to 57 for 2 in the powerplay, their second-best score in this IPL, after 62 for 3 against SRH in their last game. It lifts their average powerplay scoring rate to 8.50 this season, still worse than six other teams.

Chawla bowled the tough over - the last of the powerplay - and struck straightaway when Gurbaz went after his legbreak but only chipped one to short third for 8 off 12. Nitish Rana at No. 4 and Mumbai bring on Hrithik Shokeen's offbreaks straightaway for the two left-hand batters.

A back-foot punch for four. A lofted drive over long-off for six. An upper cut for six. And an inside edge to fine leg for four. No. 3 Venkatesh Iyer has raced to 24 off 11 to power KKR to 39 for 1 in four overs. He has also hurt the area near his knee while attempting a scoop of Cameron Green which he missed, and was on the ground for a few minutes to receive some medical attention. Good to go now, although he is not looking comfortable for the quick runs.

N Jagadeesen tried to open his account after four dot balls, sliced one in the air off Cameron Green and Hrithik Shokeen did well to dive in front and just about get his fingers under the ball, confirmed by the third umpire. Jagadeesen falls for a duck.

KKR have so far used Mandeep, Gurbaz, Jagadeesen and Venkatesh but things are just not working for them. Their openers average just 15.31 since 2022 with a run rate of 6.66, both by far the worst in the period. In this IPL, their five opening stands have managed only 70 runs (best partnership 26), also the worst.

He has a wobbly run up, he has been swinging it into the right-hand batters, and he got close to getting a wicket twice in his first over - once when Gurbaz lobbed a low full toss down the ground just beyond mid-off's reach and then with a close lbw appeal which was turned down. Arjun has been bowling around 128kmh to 131kmh but the highlight has been his inswing and some movement off the pitch. Five runs off his first over, including a leg bye.

The Wankhede track almost always helps pace bowlers more than spinners, and so far this IPL, KKR's spinners have fared much better than Mumbai's. And Mumbai's quicks have done better than KKR's. Does that mean today's pitch will assist pace bowlers more than spinners to negate the threat of KKR's spinners, such as Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma, assuming he is subbed in when KKR bowl?

KKR haven't had a great batting journey so far for their top order, still no game for Jason Roy, and they'll be against two left-arm quicks today: Arjun Tendulkar and Duan Jansen, two very inexperienced names. Meredith is the other (very) quick, and the spin options are Chawla and Shokeen. Surprisingly, Jason Behrendorff, who has taken half of the wickets grabbed by MI's quicks so far, has been left out (unless he had a niggle).

Stat attack: Rinku Singh has smashed 82 runs off just 29 balls (SR 283) against left-arm quicks, so expect Arjun and Jansen to bowl most of their overs before Rinku comes out. Or will KKR promote him and surprise Mumbai? Knowing Mumbai's planning, they'd want to bowl Shokeen's offbreaks against Rinku, also because Rinku's strike rate against spin this IPL has been just 95.45 (21 off 22).

SKY and Harmanpreet Kaur come out for the toss. "Where's Rohit?" Ravi Shastri asks Suryakumar and he says Rohit has a stomach bug. What is Harmanpreet doing there? Shastri didn't ask that, but I'll tell you anyway: it's part of the franchise's initiative to support young girls. The initiative, called Education and Sports for All will also have the ground filled with over 19,000 young girls from 36 NGOs in the city.

Mumbai are bowling first and Rohit Sharma is among their impact subs. Nitish Rana says he would have batted first too. KKR are playing the same XI from the last game.

KKR XI: 1 Venkatesh, 2 Gurbaz, 3 Narine, 4 Rana, 5 Jagadeesan, 6 Russell, 7 Rinku, 8 Thakur, 9 Umesh, 10 Ferguson, 11 Chakravarthy. Impact sub options: Suyash Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, David Wiese

MI XI: 1 Green, 2 Kishan (wk), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 5 Tim David, 6 Nehal Wadhera, 7 Arjun Tendulkar, 8 Hrithik Shokeen, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Duan Jansen, 11 Riley Meredith. Impact sub options: Rohit Sharma, Ramandeep Singh, Arshad Khan, Vishnu Vinod, Kumar Kartikeya

Nagraj Gollapudi chimes in from the ground: Jofra Archer has not played since Mumbai Indians' opening match this season. Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma had said recently that benching Archer was a precautionary move – the real reason being the England strike bowler experienced discomfort in his right elbow, his bowling arm, immediately after the first game. Keeping in mind the Ashes and the ODI World Cup this year, the ECB had given Archer the permission to feature in the IPL subject to his fitness and workload monitored and managed well.

Archer will no doubt be restless to bowl at full tilt, but he is staying patient. But he has not stopped bowling. He has turned up at Wankhede and is bowling left-arm off a two-step run-up. And, not surprisingly, he landed the bowl well on length and at a decent pace.