IPL 2024: Narine, Salt fail to deliver knocks vs MI at Eden Gardens

Sunil Narine. Pic/AFP

Put into bat by Mumbai Indians in a rain-reduced match, Kolkata Knight Riders were 116-5 after 12 overs at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.

Andre Russell and Rinku Singh were at the crease at the time of going to press.

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A steady drizzle since afternoon had the match starting an hour and 45 minutes after the scheduled 7.30 pm start, and there was drama straightaway.

Nuwan Thushara, who had pegged back the Knights at Wankhede last week with three wickets in the Powerplay, was hoisted for a six off the first ball by Phil Salt (6), but the English opener was gone in that very over as Anshul Kamboj on the fine-leg boundary held onto a skier. Jasprit Bumrah, spitting fire from the other end, removed Sunil Narine (0) with the perfect yorker even before the Trinidadian could react. Bumrah, quite against the run of play, conceded 15 in his second over as Venkatesh Iyer, taking a nasty blow on his cuff while going through a single, hit him for a couple of fours and a six.

Meanwhile, Kamboj removed skipper Shreyas Iyer, and the contest looked nicely balanced as the teams went into the first Strategic Time Out.