IPL 2026: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) maintained their excellent form and defeated Mumbai Indians (MI) by four wickets. With this win, KKR has leapfrogged in the IPL points table and kept itself firmly in the race for the playoffs. Three-time champion Kolkata Knight Riders will now come very close to sealing the playoff ticket with another win, which will also depend on the results of other teams.

After the bowlers, Manish-Rovman’s amazing work
After winning the toss and bowling first, KKR restricted Mumbai Indians to just 147 runs. For Mumbai, Corbin Bosch scored unbeaten 32 runs in 18 balls. For KKR, Saurabh Dubey, Karthik Tyagi and Cameron Green took two wickets each. Kolkata did not have a good start to chase the modest target of 148 runs, but thanks to the match-winning innings of experienced batsman Manish Pandey (45 runs in 33 balls, 6 fours) and Rovman Powell (40 runs in 30 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes), KKR achieved the target by losing 6 wickets in 18.4 overs.

“Living in the moment is our strength” – Captain Rahane
After the match, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane praised the tight bowling of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine (only 41 runs in 8 overs). He also praised the attitude of Manish Pandey. Rahane said, “When you are not a part of the playing-11 regularly, it is not easy to sit out and keep yourself prepared. I am very happy with this innings of Manish. The thing that has worked for us in the last 6-7 matches is to live in the moment and concentrate on just one game at a time.” After this win, KKR is at sixth place in the points table, while Mumbai Indians have slipped to 9th place.

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