Mumbai Indians thrash Kolkata Knight Riders to book passage to Indian Premier League final

Leg-spinner Karn Sharma and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah destroyed Kolkata Knight Riders by sharing seven wickets as Mumbai Indians stormed into the final of the Indian Premier League with a six-wicket victory last night.

Mumbai Indians bowler Karn Sharma, right, celebrates the dismissal of Kolkata Knight Riders captain and batsman Gautam Gambhir for 12 runs during the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 second qualifier cricket match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore on May 19, 2017. Manjunath Kiran / AFPShow less

One more chance

The two-time champions Mumbai Indians now meet Rising Pune Supergiant in the final tomorrow. Sharma grabbed 4-16 off his deceptive leg-spin bowling and Bumrah took 3-7 as Kolkata were bowled out for 107 in 18.5 overs after Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field first.

Too little

Krunal Pandya top-scored with an unbeaten 45 off 30 balls and Rohit scored 26 and carried Mumbai Indians to 111-4 with more than five overs to spare.

Tactical master

Earlier, Rohit placed his fielders intelligently in the batting powerplay to earn Mumbai vital wickets off hard-hitting Chris Lynn (4) and Sunil Narine (10).

≥ Bowled over

Karn exposed the lower batting order as early as in the seventh over when he dismissed captain Gautam Gambhir (12) and Colin de Grandhomme (0) off successive deliveries and reduced Knight Riders to 31-5. Mitchell Johnson (2-28) and Lasith Malinga (1-24) then wrapped up the innings quickly as Knight Riders could not utilise their full quota of 20 overs.

‘Important’

“This was an important game for the team as we had to qualify for the final,” Karn said. “So I just tried to get wickets for my team and bowl them out quickly. It’s a good thing that I am helping out the team.”

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