Kolkata, May 21 (IANS) Manish Pandey and Rovman Powell played key roles under pressure as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by four wickets in Match 65 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday, keeping alive their hopes of reaching the playoffs stage.

Chasing a target of 148 on a tricky two-paced surface, KKR faced a few tense moments but crossed the finish line thanks mainly to Pandey’s steady 45 off 33 balls and Powell’s bold batting in the middle overs.

KKR started their innings aggressively despite an early loss. Impact substitute Finn Allen, who replaced injured Varun Chakravarthy, hit two clean square-driven boundaries off Deepak Chahar before dragging the last ball of the opening over into his stumps. KKR was 10/1 after one over.

Jasprit Bumrah then delivered an excellent second over in which Ajinkya Rahane and Pandey faced only two balls combined, illustrating the tough batting conditions.

However, Rahane quickly found his groove as KKR picked up the pace. Bumrah had an unusually expensive fourth over, with Rahane and Pandey both hitting boundaries to move KKR to 31/1 after four overs.

Mumbai Indians made a brief comeback when Corbin Bosch dismissed Rahane for 21 off 17 balls in the final over of the Power-play. After giving away nine runs on the first three balls, Bosch adjusted his length brilliantly to induce an outside edge, catching Rahane off guard. KKR finished the Power-play at 48/2.

The hosts faced another setback in the eighth over when Cameron Green mishit a poor delivery down the leg side from Allah Ghazanfar straight to a fielder, scoring only four runs off eight balls. At 54/3, Mumbai sensed an opportunity.

Pandey, however, expertly stabilised the innings while Powell shifted the momentum with a series of powerful shots. Powell almost got out in the 10th over when Deepak Chahar let a top-edged hook shot slip through for Robin Minz at fine leg, but the chance was missed amid confusion.

Meanwhile, Pandey kept the innings flowing by rotating the strike and punishing loose balls. He reached 45 before Bumrah finally got him out for the first time in T20 cricket after 49 balls in their matchups. Bumrah bowled a fantastic offcutter with the 15-over-old ball that sharply moved back through bat and pad.

Earlier, KKR’s bowlers set the stage for victory by limiting the Mumbai Indians to a modest 147/8 in 20 overs.

Cameron Green and Saurabh Dubey dismantled Mumbai’s top-order batter on a challenging pitch. Green removed Naman Dhir for a three-ball duck and then took an incredible over-the-shoulder catch to dismiss Rohit Sharma for 15.

Dubey also struck twice during the Power-play, including the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav for 15, as Mumbai fell to 46/4 after six overs.

After a rain delay at 57/4 in eight overs, KKR’s spin pair of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy tightened their grip on the game. Narine bowled exceptionally well, finishing with 4-1-13-1 by taking out Hardik Pandya for 26, while Varun delivered 4-0-28-0 despite having a hairline fracture in his foot.

Tilak Varma struggled with his rhythm, scoring 20 off 32 balls before Kartik Tyagi dismissed him with a bouncer. Will Jacks was run out for 13 after a mix-up with Bosch.

Late hitting from Bosch and Chahar helped Mumbai recover a bit, with Bosch hitting back-to-back sixes in the final overs, allowing MI to gather 52 runs in the last four overs for a total of 147/8. However, that total ultimately proved too low.

Even after Pandey’s wicket, Powell (40)continued to attack, hitting Ghazanfar for a huge six over long-on. But Bosch shone again in the field, diving to his right at backward point to take a stunning catch, dismissing Powell just as the game seemed secure for KKR.

Despite losing wickets late in the game, KKR crossed the finish line with four wickets in hand as Rinku Singh hit the final runs with a boundary over long-on, keeping their playoff aspirations alive.

Brief scores:

Mumbai Indians 147/8 in 20 overs (Corbin Bosch 32 not out, Hardik Pandya 26; Cameron Green 2-23, Saurabh Debey 2-34) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 148/6 in 18.5 overs (Manish Pandey 45, Rovman Powell 40; Corbin Bosch 3-40) by four wickets.

--IANS

hs/bsk/