Key Points
For the most part of IPL 17 they have looked like an ageing, washed up star shoe-horned into a college romance..
There were flashes of what the five-time IPL champions are capable of but it wasnt enough and the 18-run defeat in a rain-shortened 16-overs-a-side game on Saturday took Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the playoffs for the first time since 2021..
On a pitch which assisted fast bowlers at the start, delayed by 105 minutes because of rain, and then got sticky aiding the slower deliveries, KKR derailed the chase when Surya Kumar Yadav dragged one from Andre Russell but couldnt beat Ramandeep Singh..
KKRs spinners got MI in a tangle before Russell and Harshit Rana foxed them with slower deliveries, the late pyrotechnics of Varma and Dhir notwithstanding..
But useful knocks from Russell (24 off 14), Rinku Singh (20 off 12) and 33 from Nitish Rana, making a comeback from injury after 10 games, helped KKR score 157/7..
