Mumbai, April 1 New Zealand veteran Kane Williamson lauded Mumbai Indians' (MI) eight-wicket win over defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), saying the five-time winners dominated every phase of the match to register their first win in the IPL 2025 season.
Ryan Rickelton struck an unbeaten half-century after young debutant pacer Ashwani Kumar destroyed KKR with his four-wicket haul to lead MI to their first points at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday evening.
Ashwani first stole the show with a sensational 4-24, the best figures by an Indian bowler on his IPL debut, as KKR were bowled out for 116 in 16.2 overs. Later, Rickelton's unbeaten 62 off 41 balls ensured MI chased down 117 with ease in just 12.5 overs.
"It was a complete performance. Winning the toss, bowling first, and executing their plans beautifully. Bringing in an extra seamer, Ashwani, who was outstanding. They took wickets consistently, and I think that was the most pleasing aspect. It’s not often nowadays, with the impact player rule, that you see a team preventing any substantial partnerships. But they applied pressure throughout and were dominant in every phase of the match," Williamson said on JioHotstar.
Meanwhile, former India spinner Piyush Chawla analysed KKR's performance and what went wrong for them and said, "Sometimes, you have to respect the conditions. It wasn’t a typical batting surface, especially with the new ball. You need to play cautiously at the start because once the ball gets older and softer, that’s when you can go for your shots. But here, that didn’t happen. We all know Trent Boult can swing the ball outside, and it was clear that he had a plan for Sunil Narine, which worked perfectly. Venkatesh Iyer also struggled, repeatedly attempting fancy shots."
"As I mentioned earlier, the pressure of his heavy price tag is always there. Then, the way Rinku got out - he has a good head on his shoulders, but that shot was unnecessary. There were still 8-10 overs left, and the team needed stability. Even with an impact player and batting depth till number nine, they couldn’t play the full 20 overs. That tells the whole story," he added.
KKR, rooted at the bottom of the table, will be aiming to bounce back when they host Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday at Eden Gardens, while fifth-placed MI will take Lucknow Super Giants on the following day at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
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