KKR vs MI | Turning Point of the match: Surakumar Yadav's 50

Even the arrival of Suryakumar Yadav for the first match this IPL was not enough to take Mumbai Indians to their first win. But, Yadav gave a good account of himself in his first outing after recovering from a hairline fracture suffered in the T20I series against the West Indies in February.

Yadav, a key member of the MI line-up and who has worked his way into the Indian team courtesy his exploits consistently in this league in the previous editions, proved his worth in Pune against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday. One of the players retained by MI prior to the February auctions, Yadav top-scored for MI with 52 in 36 balls with five fours and two sixes to see Mumbai Indians post a competitive 161 for four.

Yadav shared 83 in 49 deliveries for the fourth wicket with immensely-talented 19-year-old left-hander from Hyderabad, Tilak Verma, who remained unbeaten on 38 (27 balls, 3x4, 2x6). Yadav played strokes all around the wicket in his typical fashion, upper-cutting Umesh Yadav for a six and picking slow bowler Sunil Narine over mid-wicket for another maximum. In between, he executed the sweep from outside off, cutting through the gap behind square on the off-side and also playing the conventional sweep for boundaries.

When Yadav was in the middle, runs were coming at a brisk pace. In his company, Verma also played some breath-taking shots, mainly picking the mid-wicket region with his pulls but a scoop from outside off against Australia Test captain Pat Cummins for a six over fine leg followed by a straight drive past the bowler for four showed the confidence level of the young batsman.

The fourth-wicket partnership between Yadav and Verma more than made up for the balls wasted in the initial overs by the openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan. Sharma and Kishan, in their struggle to score runs, consumed 33 deliveries for their combined tally of 17 runs. Umesh Yadav, the Purple Cap holder and who dismissed Sharma in the innings’ third over, bowled as tidy as ever, having 12 dot balls in his four overs while his new-ball partner from Jammu and Kashmir, Rasikh Salam had six dot balls in only his second IPL match and first for KKR.

Teenaged IPL debutant from South Africa, Dewald Brevis set the ball rolling for MI with a brisk 19-ball 29 for Yadav and Verma to take over. While MI reached 54 for two in their 10 overs (the Power Play score reading 35 for one), they amassed 107 in the second half including 76 in the last five overs.

The final push to the MI tally was given by the big-hitting Trinidadian, Kieron Pollard. The West Indian walked in at the fall of Yadav’s wicket in the first ball off the last over sent down by Cummins. Pollard raced to 22 runs with three sixes including two off the top-edge over third man and another low over long-on off the last five deliveries of the innings.