IPL 2021: Venkatesh Iyer, Tripathi power KKR past Mumbai Indians

Abu Dhabi: Rahul Tripathi and Venkatesh Iyer struck fluent half-centuries to guide Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a comfortable seven-wicket win over defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in an Indian Premier League match here on Thursday.

Chasing 156, KKR produced a solid batting effort with Tripathi (74 not out off 42 balls) and Iyer (53 off 30 balls) putting on 88 runs for the second wicket to take the side home in just 15.1 overs.

Jasprit Bumrah picked up all the three wickets for MI, giving away 43 runs from his four overs.

The big win lifted KKR to fourth place with eight points from nine matches, while MI, having the same number of points, slipped to sixth spot on net run rate.

KKR players celebrate a wicket. Photo: Twitter/IPL

Earlier, MI could manage only 155/6. Sent in to bat, Quinton de Kock (55 off 42 balls) scored a fine attacking fifty and together with skipper Rohit Sharma (33) shared 78 runs for the opening wicket.

Towards the end, Kieron Pollard (21) and Krunal Pandya (12) added 30 runs for the fifth wicket before both perished off successive balls in Lockie Ferguson's superb last over.

Ferguson (2/27) was the pick of the bowlers for KKR while young Prasidh Krishna (2/43) too accounted for two MI batsmen.

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