Mumbai Indians defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 9 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday to top the points table of the 2019 Indian Premier League. MI have thus eliminated KKR and taken Sunrisers Hyderabad to the playoffs.
Mumbai Indians thrashed Kolkata Knights Riders by 9 wickets in match 56 of the Indian Premier League 2019 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Chasing a modest target of 134 runs, Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma gave the home side a flying start as the left-right hand opening pair added 46 runs in 6.1 overs. De Kock was dismissed by Prasidh Krishna courtesy a magnificent catch taken by Dinesh Karthik. Following that, nothing went the visiting team's way as Rohit Sharma, who was joined by Suryakumar Yadav stitched together an unbeaten 88-run partnership that gave Mumbai Indians a convincing win. Rohit remained unbeaten on 55 off 48 (8 fours). This was the Mumbai Indians'captain's 36th IPL half-century. On the other hand, Suryakumar scored an unbeaten 46 off 27 (5 fours, 2 sixes). With this win, Mumbai Indians topped the IPL 2019 points table and will play Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier-1 on Tuesday.
After winning the toss, Rohit Sharma put Kolkata Knight Riders in. KKR had lost 6 matches in a row but they had won 4 out of their first 5 matches this season before the losing streak.
Back-to-back wins against Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab over the last week meant KKR had to beat MI at the Wankhede in the last league game of the season to reach the playoffs.
KKR's batting line-up had amazed several experts throughout the season. In a must-win match, Andre Russell was once again held back and he came out to bat when Mumbai Indians had successfully managed to build up substantial pressure.
