IPL 2023 Match 22 Condensed Review- KKR vs. MI

Hey everyone, I’m back again with my KKR preview and review series. This time, I’m looking at the recently concluded match no. 22 in the 2023 IPL season. My Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) took on our sworn rivals, the Mumbai Indians (MI). KKR sits at 2-2 in the standings while MI is 1-2. Kolkata will be looking to bounce back from a tough loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). On the other hand, Mumbai will be looking to continue adding to their win total after beating the Delhi Capitals on April 11th. Two Mumbaikars in the Knight Riders coaching setup – head coach Chandrakant Pandit and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar – will be hoping to see their side victorious! Links to the entire series will be provided below as always.

Photo Cred: Times of India

Match Information and Result

Date– April 16th, 2023.

Stadium– Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Photo Cred: InsideSport.IN

Toss– MI won the toss, chose to field.

Result– MI won by five wickets.

Player of the Match– Venkatesh Iyer (KKR).

Scores– First innings: KKR 185/6 (20). Second innings: MI 186/5 (17.4).

Photo Cred: The Federal (Iyer)

Article-Specific Key

1. Batting
   1. RHB: Right-Hand Bat
   2. LHB: Left-Hand Bat
2. Bowling
   1. Seam
      1. RAM: Right-Arm Medium
      2. RAF: Right-Arm Fast
      3. RAMF: Right-Arm Medium-Fast
      4. RAFM: Right-Arm Fast-Medium
      5. LAMF: Left-Arm Medium-Fast
      6. LAF: Left-Arm Fast
      7. LAM: Left-Arm Medium
   2. Spin
      1. SLA: Slow Left-Arm Orthodox
      2. OB: Off Break (Right-Arm)
      3. LBG: Leg Break Googly
      4. LB: Leg Break
      5. SLW: Slow Left-Arm Wrist Spin

Pre-Match Playing XIs, Substitutes, and Impact Players

Kolkata Knight Riders

1. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Overseas- Afghanistan) (Wicket-keeper) RHB
2. Venkatesh Iyer LHB, RAM
3. Narayan Jagadeesan RHB
4. Nitish Rana (Captain) LHB, RAM & OB
5. Rinku Singh LHB, OB
6. Andre Russell (Overseas- West Indies/Jamaica) RHB, RAF
7. Sunil Narine (Overseas- West Indies/Trinidad and Tobago) LHB, OB
8. Shardul Thakur RHB, RAM
9. Umesh Yadav RHB, RAF
10. Lockie Ferguson (Overseas- New Zealand) RHB, RAF
11. Varun Chakravarthy RHB, LBG

Available Subs–

• Suyash Sharma RHB, LB
• David Wiese (Overseas- represents Namibia, born in and previously represented South Africa) RHB, RAMF
• Anukul Roy LHB, SLA
• Mandeep Singh RHB, RAM
• Vaibhav Arora RHB, RAFM

Impact Player selection– Suyash Sharma: Replaced Venkatesh Iyer, bowled four overs.

Photo Cred: News18

Mumbai Indians

1. Cameron Green RHB, RAFM (Overseas- Australia)
2. Ishan Kishan LHB (Wicket-keeper)
3. Tilak Varma LHB, OB
4. Suryakumar Yadav (Captain) RHB, RAM & OB
5. Tim David (Overseas- represents Australia, born in and previously represented Singapore) RHB, OB
6. Nehal Wadhera LHB, LB
7. Arjun Tendulkar LHB, LAMF
8. Hrithik Shokeen RHB, OB
9. Piyush Chawla LHB, LB
10. Duan Jansen (Overseas- South Africa) RHB, LAF
11. Riley Meredith (Overseas- Australia) RHB, RAF

Available Subs–

• Rohit Sharma RHB, OB
• Ramandeep Singh RHB, RAM
• Arshad Khan LHB, LAM
• Vishnu Vinod RHB
• Kumar Kartikeya RHB, SLA & SLW

Impact Player selection– Rohit Sharma: Replaced Riley Meredith, batted at no. 1.

*Note: Suryakumar Yadav is not the regular captain. Just like in the KKR-GT game, the regular captain (Hardik Pandya for GT, Rohit Sharma for MI) was unwell. At least Rohit (stomach bug) was able to participate as an impact sub. Pandya (illness) missed the whole game against Kolkata, so Rashid Khan took over.*

Photo Cred: Outlook India (Kishan)                        Photo Cred: Cricket Addictor (Meredith)

What a Day for Venkatesh Iyer!

On a track that affected the rest of our batters (except for Russell), Iyer decided that was his day to shine! He managed to utilize an ultra-attacking style to its fullest extent, thus becoming only the second IPL centurion of the season. What’s weird is that this pitch managed to slow all other Kolkata batters. Only Russell managed to muscle his way into some shots during his 11-ball, 21-run stay at the crease.

Photo Cred: India Today

MI Continues the Trend

The trend I’m talking about has been the point of envy in almost every review article I’ve done in this series… Why is it that every other team so far can rely on the fact that all their batters will play well? There’s no real dependency on one particular batter in all but one opposition we’ve faced so far. Everyone who bats against us, regardless of whether they develop a solid partnership or not, is able to come in at any point in the game and have a good SR. It’s just that KKR has been unable to replicate that themselves.

Photo Cred: Scroll.in

In this match, five out of seven Indians faced at least 13 balls. All of those batters had at least 120 SR, with four of them striking at 150+. The two batters who came in late had 150 (4-ball 6 by Wadhera) and 100 (1-ball 1 by Green) SR respectively. Only Varma had an uncharacteristic 120 SR, which is only surprising because how of impactful he’s been so far in the IPL. So much can be expected of this young fellow that a 25-ball 30 (with three 4s and one 6) is “uncharacteristic”. Just check out his IPL stats and you’ll see why I am raving about him!

The Positives and the Negatives

Kolkata Knight Riders

Pros:

1. Venkatesh Iyer’s form. In a game with little to no positives for the Knight Riders, at least it’s been good to see Iyer back in action! His 51-ball 104 kept Kolkata in the game long enough, but a lot more runs should’ve been scored beside him to complement his century.
2. Andre Russell is back? I can’t say for certain but his 21-run contribution did have him at a 190.90 SR. He hit 3 4s and a 6 as well. It’s just one game, so it might not mean much, but dare I say Dre Russ is back?
3. Suyash Sharma is really good! You know, I was skeptical about what this youngster with no Cricinfo stats would do when we brought him on. I think it’s safe to say that Pandit knew what he was doing, and so does this young leggie.
   • In this match, he had the joint most wickets overall (two) and had the second-best economy rate overall (6.75).
4. Not that many extras. We only gave up four extras this game, all wides. After giving up a combined 28 in the last two matches, it was a welcome sight to see some discipline.
5. Success with Impact Players (four out of five successful contributions).
   1. Iyer vs. Punjab Kings (PBKS): 34(28), 3 4s, 1 6, 121.42 SR
   2. Suyash vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB): 3/30 (4), 7.50 econ
   3. Iyer vs. Gujarat Titans (GT): 84(40), 8 4s, 5 6s, 207.50 SR
   4. Suyash vs. MI: 2/27 (4), 6.75 econ
6. Honorable Mentions: Umesh Yadav (9.50) and Varun Chakravarthy (9.50, one wicket). Along with Suyash, they were the only two KKR bowlers have an econ under the run rate that MI had (10.52).

Photo Creds: (L) Hindustan Times (Russell), (R) Social News XYZ (Suyash)

Cons:

1. It’s always an overdependency on somebody. We have only a few names who’ve been consistent for us, so it’s almost as if we have to depend on them each time to win a chase or score a big first-inning total.
   1. In game 1 @ PBKS, only four batters got to double digits: Gurbaz, Iyer, Rana, and Russell. Now, we probably knew who to depend on in the next game.
   2. Game 2 vs. RCB: Gurbaz came good, but Iyer, Rana, and Russell fell early. Only Rinku and Thakur managed to come in and make this game their own of their own volition.
   3. Game 3 @ GT: Some familiar names show up yet again: Gurbaz, Iyer, Rana, and Rinku. Without Rinku at the end of the game, we wouldn’t even win this game.
   4. Game 4 vs. SRH: Finally, a new name emerges: Jagadeesan. Iyer and Thakur had cameos that weren’t enough. Once again, the services of Rana and Rinku were required…
   5. Game 5 @ MI: Really, it was just Iyer and Russell with two cameos from Rinku and Thakur.
2. Toothless bowling attack. Other than Suyash’s two wickets and Chakravarthy’s one dismissal, the remaining two wickets came when the game was already settled more or less. Our bowlers also consistently give up 10 runs an over.
3. The schedule. After a Friday game at 7:30 PM IST in Eden Gardens, KKR was required to make it to Mumbai to face the Indians at 3:30 PM IST on Sunday at Wankhede. Not even 48 hours had passed between games and KKR had to make a quick transition…
4. Note: I just realized I had to eat my words for ALL the pros I made in the last game… I said our four pros were: Narine, a stable opening partnership, Rinku, Rana, and Russell’s bowling. What ended up happening against the Indians? Well…
   1. Narine: 0/41 (3), 13.66 econ
   2. Openers:
      • Gurbaz: 8(12), 66.66 SR
      • Jagadeesan: 0(5), 0.00 SR
   3. Rinku: 18(18), 2 4s, 100.00 SR
      • Ok, so this may not necessarily be bad but he wasn’t as effective as he has been.
   4. Rana: 5(10), 50.00 SR
   5. Russell’s bowling: 0/17 (1), 17.00 econ
      • So, not only did he not pick up a wicket but he didn’t get to bowl again after a singular over. An over where he gave up 17 runs, though…

Photo Cred: India Today

Mumbai Indians

Pros:

1. Three bowlers: Arjun Tendulkar, Hrithik Shokeen, and Piyush Chawla.
   1. Tendulkar had a pretty good IPL debut: 0/17 (2), 8.50 econ.
   2. Shokeen finally turned up when needed, picking up two wickets at an econ of 8.50 (2/34 in four overs).
   3. Chawla was the pick of the bowlers. The sixth-highest wicket-taker in the IPL just continued his wily tricks, picking up a wicket but only at 4.75 an over (1/19 in four).
2. Kishan did not ever let the bowlers settle down. A chase of 186 should’ve been harder than it was made out to be by MI. That’s because Kishan (58 off 25 balls) ended up playing big strokes every now and then (5 4s, 5 6s) to keep the run rate high.
3. After Kishan left, Suryakumar and David were there to take the helm. They continued to put the pressure on the bowlers with a 25-ball 43 (4 4s, 3 6s, 172 SR) and 13-ball 24 (1 4, 2 6s, 184.61 SR) respectively.
4. Varma played a sort of anchor-like role. He decided to just keep things steady this time around with a 25-ball 30 (3 4s, 1 6). 30s are very valuable in the T20 format.

Photo Cred: myKhel (Chawla)                                    Photo Cred: Rediffmail (Suryakumar)

Cons:

1. The other three bowlers were smashed for runs. Venkatesh Iyer’s rampage meant that some players were going to have to go for runs. Those three bowlers were Cameron Green (1/20 in two overs, 10 econ), Duan Jansen (1/53 in four, 13.25 econ), and Riley Meredith (1/40 in four, 10 econ).
   • Hey, at least they all picked up a wicket! Looking on the bright side of things.
2. Lack of bowling discipline. 14 extras were given up, 12 of them being wides. So, just imagine that. 186/5 was already an easy chase despite Iyer’s 100. 14 runs less would be 172, which is an even easier chase! Oh well, I’m just being picky here. Nothing else to nitpick from…

Photo Cred: DNA India

The Links to My KKR Preview & Review Series

1. 1. My Thoughts on the Kolkata Knight Riders for the IPL 2023 season (also includes the condensed preview of KKR vs. PBKS)
   2. IPL 2023 Match 2 Condensed Review- KKR vs. PBKS
   3. IPL 2023 Match 9 Condensed KKR Preview
   4. IPL 2023 Match 9 Condensed Review- KKR vs. RCB
   5. IPL 2023 Match 13 Condensed KKR Preview
   6. IPL 2023 Match 13 Condensed Review- KKR vs. GT
   7. IPL 2023 Match 19 Condensed KKR Preview
   8. IPL 2023 Match 19 Condensed Review- KKR vs. SRH
   9. IPL 2023 Match 22 Condensed KKR Preview