KKR vs MR, IPL 2021: 'It was a complete team effort,' says Rohit after Mumbai defend 152 against Kolkata

Rohit Sharma hailed his entire team, calling it a team effort after Mumbai Indians (MI) defended 152 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 on Tuesday.

KKR needed 31 runs off the last five overs with six wickets in hand. In the next 30 deliveries, KKR got bowled out and fell short by 10 runs. Kolkata were off to a great start during their chase of 153 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Openers Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill put up 72 runs for the first wicket before Rahul Chahar remove Gill in the ninth over.

A few overs later, Chahar got rid of Rana, who had done enough damage by then. Rana hammered two sixes and six fours in his knock of 57 off 47 balls. However, Chahar and other MI bowlers put in an incredible effort to derail the rest of the Kolkata batting line-up.

"It was a great fightback, excellent fightback by each one of them. You don't see a game like this often. Lots of confidence from this game and we move forward. KKR batted brilliantly in the powerplay. Rahul came and got us crucial wickets in the middle. Krunal bowling those overs at the end was vital as well. It was a complete team effort and credit to all the bowlers.

As batters, you need to carry on. The trend in Chennai is you can't hit from ball one. You have to plan before you go into bat. We were 15-20 runs short. Should have batted well at the fag end. We need to understand how we need to bat at the death but I don't want to take anything away from the boys. SKY has carried his form well. He plays fearless and it's a positive sign for us in the first few overs. We need a guy there to do that. We have done the finishing part well as a team, just that we need to understand the surfaces here and adapt," said Rohit after MI's 10-run win over KKR on Tuesday.

Chahar was named the Player of the Match for his match-winning figures of 4 for 27 in four overs. KKR needed 14 runs off the final over and Rohit handed the ball to Trent Boult. The BlackCaps pacer made two dismissals and sealed the deal for the reigning champions.

"There was pressure when they started well and a spinner had to pull it back. I enjoyed Tripathi's wicket. I was confident in my abilities as I have been playing the IPL for 2-3 years. I know Gill well, and I also know he can't keep hitting me out of the park on a regular basis. I can spin at 90 kph and that's my strength.

I had an idea about Nitish walking down the track, so I bowled a flipper outside off on the last ball of my spell. My confidence is sometimes down, but Rohit shows confidence in me to lift me up. Mumbai Indians takes care of its players during the off season as well, and that's why it is such a special franchise," Reacting to his performance against KKR, Chahar said in a post-match interview.

With a win and a loss from their opening two games, MI are currently placed second in the IPL 2021 points table. Kolkata are in fifth place because of a lower run rate.

MI next face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Saturday (April 17) and KKR's next fixture in the IPL 2021 is against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Sunday.