IPL 2020, KKR vs MI: Rohit, Bumrah shine as Mumbai Indians break UAE jinx with win over KKR

Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult produced match-winning performances and helped Mumbai Indians (MI) defeat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 49 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 meeting on Wednesday.

With the win in Abu Dhabi, MI broke the jinx and finally registered an IPL match win in the UAE after losing their first six matches, which were played during the 2014 edition. It was also Mumbai's 20th win over KKR. In fact, in their last 11 meetings, KKR have managed to win just once and that shows how supremely Rohit and Co have dominated their Kolkata rivals.

Moreover, prior to IPL 2020, KKR had won their opening fixture of every edition of IPL from 2013 to 2019. It was only fitting that it were Mumbai that ended KKR's memorable run in their tournament's opening fixtures.

KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik won the toss and asked MI to bat in Abu Dhabi. KKR had a great start when a young Shivam Mavi dismissed Quinton de Kock in the very second over of the day. That dismissal brought in former KKR batsman Suryakumar Yadav to the crease, who joined his captain Rohit. The two brought MI's innings back on track as they went on to share a 90-run stand for the second wicket. Yadav scored a quick-fire 28-ball 47 that included six fours and a maximum. Rohit, who was aiming to reach 5,000 runs in the IPL, played until the 18th over before getting out got for 80 from 54 balls. However, the Mumbai opening batsman could not claim the milestone as he fell short by just 10 runs.

After MI posted 195 for 5 in 20 overs, they produced a terrific bowling effort as well that never allowed Karthik's boys to settle in the middle. MI's fast bowling unit, comprising of Boult, Bumrah and James Pattinson, picked wickets on regular intervals. The three bagged two wickets each, while the other scalps went to Rahul Chahar and Kieron Pollard. An all-round effort from Mumbai restricted KKR at 146 for 9 in 20 overs.

Speaking in a post-match interview, Rohit hailed his teammates after Mumbai broke their UAE jinx. "Only two players from the squad that lost five matches here in 2014. It is all about executing plans, which we did. We were always ahead of the game, but it was all about being ruthless. I am pretty confident playing the pull shot, I love playing that shot, and I am pretty glad that it came off. Six months is a long time without cricket. I was looking to get some time in the middle. Didn't come off in the first game, but glad it did today.

Our pace attack was strong because we planned for Wankhede. Having come here, it did enough for the fast bowlers as well. My job becomes easy if you have such players on the team. It is not easy to play long innings here. Towards the end I just wanted to stay still and hit. Again, it is a learning for all of us that once you ate in it is the responsibility of the set batsman to bat as deep as you can."

Rohit's 54-ball 80 that earned him the Man of the Match award, was inclusive of six sixes. By hitting the six sixes, Rohit became only the fourth player in the IPL premier to have struck 200 or more maximums. The list is topped by Kings XI Punjab's Chris Gayle, whose record certainly will be safe for a long time as the explosive batsman has struck as many as 326 sixes in the tournament.

The next batsman in the list is Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) star AB de Villiers, who has hit 214 sixes ahead of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni (212 sixes). The likes of Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli are four and 10 sixes away from joining the 200-club.

While KKR will remain in Abu Dhabi as they next face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday at the same venue, MI next travel to Dubai to take on RCB on Monday.