kkr vs mi

KKR’s charter flight to Kolkata from Lucknow diverted twice due to bad weather, team stays in Varanasi overnight

Danijones8 months ago8 months ago04 mins

Image Source : KKRIDERS X Kolkata Knight Riders players at Guwahati Airport after the first diversion Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) may be braving teams on the field in the 2024 edition of the IPL for fun, however, they didn’t have much say in front of inclement weather as a five-day break came to their rescue. KKR team’s Kolkata-bound flight from Lucknow was diverted to Guwahati late Monday night due to bad weather in Kolkata. However, an hour later when it was ready to take off from Guwahati, it was diverted yet again and the table-toppers find themselves in Varanasi currently. KKR, who played their last game on Sunday in Lucknow, will be in action on Saturday, May 11 against the Mumbai Indians at home, so they do have a few days before their next game and weather decided to take them on a ride. The Knight Riders as per the latest update will attempt another flight in afternoon after staying in Varanasi overnight. “Travel update: KKR’s charter flight from Lucknow to Kolkata diverted to Guwahati due to bad weather. Flight currently standing at the Guwahati Airport tarmac. More updates soon,” the first update at 9:34 PM IST from KKR on Twitter (now X) read. At 10:11 PM, they were ready to take off for Kolkata from Guwahati. “Update at 1:20 AM: Flight diverted to Varanasi after another failed attempt at landing in Kolkata due to bad weather. Current status: At the Lal Bahadur Shastri International airport tarmac,” read the next update. “Update at 3:00 AM: KKR team would be checking into Varanasi hotel for overnight stay. Return flight to Kolkata TBD on Tuesday (7 May) afternoon. Stay safe, Kolkata,” the final update read. KKR are due to play in Guwahati against the Rajasthan Royals on May 19, which will be their final league stage match but they didn’t know they would land in the city 12 days before. KKR are currently at the top of the table with eight wins in 11 matches. The weather in Kolkata brought some respite to the locals from the excessive heat and is set to remain cloudy with showers in the next few days with the forecast for Saturday, the match day also not being dry.

‘Mumbai Indians’ baffling decisions gave KKR the upper hand: Shane Watson slams Hardik Pandya’s captaincy

Danijones8 months ago06 mins

Kolkata Knight Riders beat Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium for the first time in 12 years on Friday. Despite the lopsided 9-1 head-to-head record at the venue in favour of the hosts, KKR were the firm favourites going into the encounter on current form. KKR and MI sat on opposite ends of the IPL 2024 points table before the match started and it remained the same after the match ended. But in between, there was a lot of drama. It wasn’t as it was as the 24-run victory may seem like. In fact, for the better part of the KKR innings, it seemed like MI would maintain their spotless track record by returning to winning ways against the Purple army. Kolkata Knight Riders’ players celebrate after their team’s win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match vs Mumbai Indians(AFP) KKR were 57/5 at one stage, really struggling to come to terms with the unusually slow Wankhede Pitch. That is when the KKR think tank used the Impact Player rule to the maximum effect. Manish Pandey came in place of Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who had already been dismissed. The experienced right-hander, playing in his first game of the season, stitched an all-important 83-run stand for the sixth wicket with Venkatesh Iyer to bring the KKR innings back on track. Unlock exclusive access to the latest news on India’s general elections, only on the HT App. Download Now! Download Now! Pandey was dismissed for 42 off 31 balls, but Iyer made sure KKR were poised to cross the 180-run mark quite comfortably. But they suffered another collapse when things were looking all uphill for the two-time champions. Andre Russell was run out due to a horrible mixup with Iyer and KKR folded for 169 in 19.5 overs. Iyer scored 70 off 52 balls. But the position that KKR were in, 169, was not bad by any means. In fact, it proved to be 24 runs too many for MI as the hosts were bowled out for 145 in 18.5 overs. Former Australian cricketer asserted that the Knight Riders had no right to win the match after losing the first five wickets so early in the clash against the five-time champion MI. Watson said he was baffled by some of MI’s tactics. Watson bowled over by KKR’s remarkable comeback against MI “KKR had no right to win that game tonight after the position they were in five wickets down. It just shows the fight that they have and also just some of the things that happened. Some of the decisions that were made whether that was bowling changes or batting lineup deployment, some of those decisions were very baffling just to really give KKR the upper hand in a game that was just on a knife’s edge at certain times,” Watson said on Jio Cinema. The 42-year-old further stated that this victory will give the Shreyas Iyer-led side a lot of confidence. “Look that will give KKR so much confidence to know that they don’t have to be at their very best and be in a position where the game was nearly done and they’ve got the fight and determination to find their way to actually get on the right side of the result,” the two-time IPL champion added. Mitchell Starc made a terrific comeback in the tournament returning with a figure of 4-33 in just 3.5 spells, handing KKR a 24-run victory. Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine both finished with identical figures of 2/22, including some big wickets in the first half of the chase which put KKR on top in the match. Following the win, KKR stand in second place on IPL 2024 standings with 14 points. Meanwhile, MI hold ninth place with 6 points by their name. KKR will next take on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday.

IPL-17 | Kolkata Knight Riders look to iron out flaws against off-colour Mumbai Indians

Danijones8 months ago07 mins

Kolkata Knight Riders will look to iron out their flaws and get the better of a mis-firing Mumbai Indians when the two teams, placed on the opposite ends of IPL points table spectrum, clash here on Friday. With six wins in nine games giving them 12 points and the second position in the IPL points table, a berth in the playoffs looks within the grasp of two-time winners KKR. But the Shreyas Iyer-led side will have to find consistency across departments and avoid any slip-ups in order to make it to the final four. Each of their three losses have come in the last six games for KKR, who were at the receiving end of a record run chase by Punjab Kings but did well to bounce back with a seven-wicket thrashing of Delhi Capitals. With the bat, KKR’s requisite firepower in the ranks entwined with an ultra-aggressive approach has delivered the goods more often than not but it is their bowling which needs improvement. Mitchell Starc has given nearly 12 runs an over while managing a mere seven wickets in eight outings. On flat, batting-friendly pitches, the lanky Australian’s lack of control has also been exploited well by zealous batters. Harshit Rana is among those with most wickets (11) for KKR this season but the right-arm seamer will serve a one-match ban for his animated celebrations after dismissing DC’s Abhishek Porel. Vaibhav Arora’s nine scalps in five games make him KKR’s best bet with the ball. A small Wankhede Stadium with a batting-friendly wicket tends to encourage scores in excess of 200 and the team would be mindful of that. Spotlight will also be on Rinku Singh, whose exclusion from India’s main squad for the T20 World Cup, has triggered an outpouring of sympathy for the 26-year-old. The power-hitter has not got enough game time this season which probably tilted the scales against him. For Mumbai Indians, the race to the IPL playoffs seems lost even though the five-time winners have five more games to play. Even if Mumbai Indians win each of these, they can only get to 16 points and somewhere in the middle of the points table — not necessarily challenging those who have been consistently good. Jasprit Bumrah (14 wickets) and Gerald Coetzee (13) have been MI’s best bets with the ball but despite their impressive showing, the batters’ collective failure has resulted in the team’s underwhelming season. Tilak Varma has been MI’s best batter with 343 runs, including three fifties this IPL, but his performances have not been enough to hide the failings of others. Ishan Kishan has struck the ball well but severely lacks consistency at the top and losing wickets in heaps in the powerplay has been one of MI’s biggest woes in this season. India skipper Rohit Sharma’s (315 runs at strike rate of 158.29) selfless approach with the bat has not given him big scores consistently but his form will be in focus given the T20 World Cup is now just one month away. All eyes will also be on Suryakumar Yadav who has two fifties in seven IPL games this season, but it is not the consistency which is expected from the batter of his calibre. Mumbai Indians’ under-fire skipper Hardik Pandya has neither dazzled with the ball nor the bat after a long injury lay-off. but the fact that he finds himself in the Indian side as vice-captain for the World Cup should motivate him to turn things around. Teams (from) Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Harvik Desai (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood. Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Allah Ghazanfar, Phil Salt. Match starts 7:30pm IST.