After seeing KKR’s “come from behind” triumph over MI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Australia all-rounder Shane Watson expressed his amazement. The victory snapped KKR’s 12-year losing record at Wankhede, with their last win coming in 2012.
KKR were successful in defending 169 on a high-scoring surface. Watson showered KKR with praise after the team’s 24-run win. He praised the team for their perseverance and remarked that they were able to win even though they didn’t deserve to.
“KKR had no right to win against MI, when they were five wickets down with not even 60 runs on the board. This shows their spirit and how they can fight back,” said Watson.
The Aussie all-rounder went on to say that the team will get a great deal of confidence from the victory and that they wouldn’t need to play at their best to win games.
“That provides a great deal of confidence in KKR to know that they don’t need to perform at their peak and that even when the game is almost over, they still have the desire and tenacity to find a way to win,” he added .
After being put to bat first, Nuwan Thushara ripped through KKR’s top order and the visitors were 57/5 just after the powerplay. KKR staged a comeback spearheaded by Manish Pandey (42 off 31) and Venkatesh Iyer (70 off 52), who put up an 83-run partnership for the sixth wicket off 62 balls.
Due to their partnership, KKR reached a total of 169 in 19.5 overs. MI was then dismantled by Mitchell Starc (4/33), Sunil Narine (2/22) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/22) and could only muster 145 in 18.5 overs. MI batter Suryakumar Yadav fought back with a valiant 56 but Andre Russell’s dismissal of Yadav in the 16th over ended MI’s chances of winning.
After winning, KKR held on to second place in the standings with 14 points from 10 games, while MI continued to lag behind in ninth place with six points from 11 games.
