Mumbai Indians (MI) bowler Nuwan Thushara got the hosts off to a great start against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their IPL 2024 match on Friday, May 3 at the Wankhede Stadium.
Thushara dispatched the dangerous Phil Salt in the first over. Despite being hit for a boundary, the Sri Lankan maintained his tactic of bowling back-of-a-length, while Salt attempted the pick-up shot over the leg side.
However, he only received a top edge that flew towards the point zone. Namar Dhir charged in from the deep but missed Tilak Varma, who was swirling beneath the ball. While the two collided, Tilak made sure he didn’t fumble the ball, and Phil Salt had to leave.
Here’s the video of the dismissal:
Following the catch, Naman and Tilak were seen talking, and the former appeared to claim that he couldn’t hear the latter’s call due to the noisy crowd.
Double Trouble for KKR as Nuwan Thushara Strikes Twice
Angkrish Raghuvanshi joined Sunil Narine in the middle and started strongly, smashing two sixes off Nuwan Thushara, one on the final ball of his first over and one to greet him in his second over.
However, the teenager was also forced to retire after chipping a good-length delivery from Thushara straight into Suryakumar Yadav’s hands at short cover. Raghuvanshi couldn’t believe he was ejected since the ball appeared to stop briefly on him when he played the shot.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer came out to bat and hit a wonderful late cut behind point for a boundary. However, he was also removed in the same over when he chipped one to Tim David at mid-on. Nuwan Thushara quickly took three wickets in his first performance, putting the Mumbai Indians on top.
This is a video of the double-wicket over:
KKR was wallowing at 56/5 at one point. However, Manish Pandey and Venkatesh Iyer have revitalized their innings with a solid combination and will aim to alter gears as the tail of their innings approaches.