KKR begin title defence with win at home
Kolkata Knight Riders dropped three catches, Mumbai Indians outdid them by one, and fittingly the defending champions got their campaign off to a victorious start
Kolkata Knight Riders dropped three catches, Mumbai Indians outdid them by one, and fittingly the defending champions got their campaign off to a victorious start
Scorer: Thilak Ram | Commentator: Karthik Krishnaswamy
11.30pm That's it from all of us. Hope you enjoyed the first game of the season. Make sure you read Sidharth Monga's report, and keep coming back for our coverage of all the other matches. Until next time, ta ta!
Bharath Seervi: "5 sixes in a score of less than 50 in IPL: Suryakumar Yadav 46* (20) today and Maxwell 43 (22) vs SRH 2014"
Chibi: "i dont think finch should be dropped just for one bad performance. he's coming off a good WC performance. he should be given at least 2-3 games."
Morne Morkel is the man of the match. "With the new ball there was a little bit of swing. The rhythm was good, and I just needed to make the best use of it. It's fantastic to be back here in front of an awesome crowd, and to get that first win out of the way. We expected the wicket to turn a little bit more, but the role the spinners played, in slightly tricky conditions, sums up the team."
Gautam Gambhir: "It was a tough total to chase, and the way we chased showed we were deserving winners. It was a very good wicket, but we never knew how it was going to behave. It was different to the usual wicket we see in Kolkata. The way Morne bowled, the way other guys bowled. Morne was exceptional. The way Sunil came back showed a lot of mental strength. Happy we have started the tournament on a high."
Rohit Sharma: "We were probably 10-15 runs short, but we should have done a little better with the ball. There was something for the bowlers still. We didn't execute the plans well, but I hope the guys can pick it up and come out in a positive manner. The wicket was really good, you saw how easily they chased down 170. It was a good knock, but ending up on the losing side doesn't please you. I'm sure our guys can learn from the mistakes we made."
Siddharth: "Given the form of current players, and without changing the balance of the team, the changes that MI could make are Parthiv Patel for Finch, Hazlewood for Bumrah and Shreyas Gopal for Ojha."
11.15pm The champions have begun their season with a dominant performance. Apart from the second half of the partnership between Rohit Sharma and Corey Anderson, Knight Riders dictated terms all the way through. Suryakumar Yadav has played a blinder to finish the game, after Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey set it up with an 85-run second-wicket partnership.
Four runs to get. Vinay Kumar comes on.
These days every player is handled particular roles. Last season, Suryakumar Yadav was performing the finisher's role. This season it is more flexible where he has been asked to bat in the middle order and play according to the match situation
Plays of the day from the opening match of IPL 2015 between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians
The tone for Kolkata Knight Riders' confident chase was set by Gautam Gambhir, whose domineering mindset negated Mumbai's spinners and forced the opposition to rethink its plans
Kolkata Knight Riders dropped three catches, Mumbai Indians outdid them by one, and fittingly the defending champions got their campaign off to a victorious start