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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer has "manifested" to become the first side to qualify for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs before they faced Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday.
The Kolkata-based franchise became the first team in the ongoing season of the tournament to qualify for the playoffs after they sealed an 18-run victory over Hardik Pandya's MI. "I manifested this before the game (on becoming the 1st side to qualify for the playoffs). Nerves were there, boys have been raising their hands and there have been many game-changers and kudos to each and every one of them," Iyer said after the match. Acknowledging that MI were performing stupendously in the first six overs of the second inning, the KKR skipper said it was "nice to bounce back from that situation." "They were going at great guns in the first 6 overs, and to bounce back from that situation it was nice to see. It's all about understanding which bowler is doing well on that particular day, I feel both of them bowled well and my gut went with Varun (on bowling the 4th over) at that point and I backed him," he added. Recapping the game, the game on Saturday was restricted to a 16-over-per-side after rain played a spoilsport. However, MI decided to field after winning the toss. Following the early loss of openers Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, valuable knocks came from Venkatesh Iyer (42), Nitish Rana (33), Andre Russell (24) and Rinku Singh (20), which helped KKR reach 157/7 in the 20 overs. Piyush Chawla (2/28) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/39) were the top bowlers for MI. In the run-chase, Ishan Kishan (40) and Rohit Sharma (19) started with a fine 65-run opening stand. However, KKR soon restricted the run of flow and took wickets. Tilak Varma (32) and Naman Dhir (17) put up a fight, but MI fell short by 18 runs, ending at 139/8 in their 16 overs. Varun Chakravarthy (2/17) was the top bowler for KKR. Andre Russell and Harshit Rana (2/34) also did fine with the ball. KKR is at the top of the points table, with nine wins and three losses, with 18 points. MI is at the bottom with four wins and nine losses, giving them eight points. (ANI)
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