The Mumbai Indians (MI) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR), by four wickets, to seal their first win in the 2017 Indian Premier League.

MI, chasing a target of 179, lost wickets at the regular intervals in the middle overs, but Nitish Rana and Hardik Pandya kept their cool, and guided their team, to victory, with a ball to spare.

Earlier, Manish Pandey’s, unbeaten 81-run knock helped KKR post 187/7. For MI, Krunal Pandya took three wickets. From 130/5 in 17 overs, Rana and Hardik Pandya produced a wide array of shots to pull off a stunning chase.

Skipper, Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn raced KKR to 44/0 in four overs. Through Lasith Malinga and Jasprit Bumrah, MI bowled a few yorkers, but that did nothing to help gain runs. That Bumrah gave away two free hits in his very first over, did not help either, to which Gambhir capitalized and sent one for four. On the other hand, Lynn pulled one past Bumrah at short-fine leg off McClenaghan and tonked Malinga for a six and a four, who leaked 20 in his first two.

Mumbai finally broke through with a double wicket over from Krunal Pandya, and that is where Mumbai clawed back in the game. The big wicket of Lynn followed, as a resurgent Bumrah, changing ends, trapped him leg before. Once Lynn went, the scoring rate dropped alarmingly. From 44/0 in four overs, KKR took their score to 79/3 at the end of 10th.

Manish Pandey, who had batted wonderfully in the company of Suryakumar Yadav to put 44 runs for the fourth wicket, reached his ninth IPL fifty, and as the innings progressed, unleashed a fury on the Mumbai Indians bowlers. KKR looked nervous when Krunal Pandya picked up two top-order wickets in one over and followed it with the wicket of Yusuf Pathan later, but Pandey did amazingly well to take KKR from 107/4 at the end of 14 overs to 178/7 in the end. Pandey made 35 off his first 30 balls today; the next 46 coming off 17, getting KKR 71 runs in the last six overs.

However, Pandey’s battering, came in the 19th over when he picked up a slower one from Malinga and muscled it over long-on. MI's wheels came off in the final over and Pandey collected 23 of a clearly rattled McClenaghan.

Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler began the proceedings well and scored at a healthy rate. Parthiv set the ball rolling with a crisp square drive off Trent Boult and Buttler followed it with a flick towards the mid wicket fence. He experienced a slice of luck when an edge off Chris Woakes went unnoticed by the wicketkeeper, bowler and the umpire. Parthiv, unfazed, took Boult for a four in the next over before Buttler paddle swept Woakes for a six over deep fine leg.

Mumbai Indians were staring down the barrel at 130/5 after 17 overs. All their hopes were pinned on Keiron Pollard, but KKR seemingly dealt a final blow to their opposition with the wicket of the big man.

Nitish Rana, however, all this while, had got his eye in and had played some delightful shots. But it was not until the 18th over that Rana really went after the bowling. He hammered a couple of sixes and a four off Boult's penultimate over to take him for 19 runs, and followed it with a six and four off, to reach one of his most cherished half-centuries. He got out the next ball, but by then had brought the equation down to 19 off nine. Last ball of the over, Hardik Pandya wiped off six from it.

Pandya took six off the first two balls - Suryakumar Yadav misfielded to concede a four. Next ball, he aired one towards deep square leg but Rishi Dhawan couldn't hold on to it. Three off two, Pandya swatted the ball towards the fine-leg fence to pull off a sensational chase.

Playing for MI: Rohit Sharma (C), Parthiv Patel (W), Lendl Simmons/Jos Buttler, Ambati Rayudu, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee.

Playing for KKR: Gautam Gambhir ©, Robin Uthappa (W), Manish Pandey, Chris Lynn, Yousuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Woakes, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Sunil Narine, Trent Boult.

Score Card:

Kolkata Knight Riders Thrash Gujarat Lions By 10 Wickets; Chris Lynn Man Of The Match

By Supraja