KKR Seal Playoffs Berth, Questions Linger Over Rohit Sharma's Future at MI
Inconsistent Hitting, Chat with KKR Players Fuel Speculation
Even as the Kolkata Knight Riders secured their postseason berth on Saturday, rumors regarding Rohit Sharma's future with the Mumbai Indians continued to circulate at Eden Gardens.
The guessing game was made much more entertaining by Rohit's small talk with the players from the home team during the rain delay. He labored for 24 balls as an Impact player, particularly against Varun Chakravarthy, crawling to 19 before top-edging a sweep.
The skipper of Team India has a difficult battle ahead of him over the next seven games following his century against CSK at the Wankhede. Nonetheless, the visiting players were quite unhappy when they heard them chant "Rohit, Rohit" across the stadium.
With this two-paced track, the 158-run chase wasn't going to be simple, but the Mumbai Indians got off to a bright start with Ishan Kishan scoring 40 off of 22. As opposed to KKR's 45/3 in the Powerplay, it enabled them to score 59/0.
They were wounded by Suryakumar Yadav's dismissal in the eleventh over, but they were still in the game. Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya lacked the guts to challenge KKR's hegemony.
If Varun's opening score of 2/17 in four overs got things started, Sunil Narine again proved his mettle with a 1/21. With 17 off 6, Naman Dhir gave the visitors some hope, but Harshit Rana took two wickets in the last over to seal the 18-run victory.
Despite the rain delay in the 16-over match, the Mumbai Indians were still in control of the situation. KKR labored under circumstances that they were accustomed to.
However, Venkatesh Iyer's 42 off 21 balls gave them some breathing room. Andre Russell and Nitish Rana then attempted to patch things up with a 39-run partnership off of 23 balls. The final touch was then supplied by the bowlers.
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