• Quinton de Kock scored his third half-century in IPL 2020.

  • MI acquired the top spot in the points table after crushing KKR by 8 wickets.

IPL 2020 – Twitter Reactions: Quinton de Kock blows away KKR with a fantastic 78-run knock
Quinton de Kock (Image Source: Iplt20)

Mumbai Indians (MI) comprehensively defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by eight wickets in the 32nd match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday

Chasing 148 was never going to trouble the four-time champions and precisely that only happened. MI got off to a magnificent start as the opening pair of Rohit Sharma (35), and Quinton de Kock (78 not out) started attacking KKR bowlers from the word go.

Both the batters scored 51/0 in the powerplay and it was the first 50-plus opening stand of the ongoing thirteenth season for MI. Also, it was the first occasion when MI got through the powerplay without losing any wicket this season.

During the 9th over of MI’s chase bowled by Andre Russell, De Kock slammed a huge six to reach his third half-century of IPL 2020.

After first 10 overs, MI reached 90/0 and both the batsmen were looking set. Rohit started the 11th over bowled by Shivam Mavi with a boundary. However, on the very next ball, the right-arm bowler got his revenge as he sent MI skipper back to the hut.

Soon, spinner Varun Chakravarthy joined the party as he cleaned up Surya Kumar Yadav (10) in the 14th over of MI’s chase. However, it was too late as MI chased down the total in 16.5 overs.

Cummins, Morgan guide KKR to 148/6

Earlier, KKR witnessed a batting collapse after opting to bat first. They lost the first wicket at 18 runs in the form of Rahul Tripathy (7). Just 15 runs later, MI pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile, who was playing his first game of the season, dismissed Nitish Rana (5).

As if the trouble wasn’t enough, KKR lost three more wickets in quick succession. Then, the newly appointed captain Eoin Morgan (39 not out) and Pat Cummins (53 not out) steadied the Knight Riders’ ship. Cummins scored his maiden T20 fifty and the pair added an unbeaten 87-run stand to take the team’s total to 148/5. Both the batters scored 35 runs in the final two overs of their innings.

For Mumbai, Rahul Chahar was their most successful bowler. The leg-spinner conceded only 18 runs in his 4-over spell and picked up two wickets. Apart from Chahar, Trent Boult, Coulter-Nile and Jasprit Bumrah bagged one scalp each.

Here is how Twitter reacted:

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