Kolkata edge low-scoring contest to keep IPL campaign alive

Bowling first after winning toss, KKR strangled MI on a sluggish pitch. Powerplay dominance: 46/4 – best of KKR’s season.Cameron Green 2/23: Removed Ryan Rickelton 6 and Naman Dhir 0 in his first over.Saurabh Dubey 2/34: Got Rohit Sharma 15 and Suryakumar Yadav 15 cheaply. Sunil Narine 1/13: Econ 3.25, dismissed Hardik Pandya 26 at a key time.Kartik Tyagi 2/37: Picked late wickets. MI only reached 147/8 thanks to Corbin Bosch 32_ off 18 balls. Chasing 148, KKR lost three wickets early, but a couple of 40s from Manish Pandey and Rovman Powell were enough to break the back of the chase. KKR still needed to win their last match against Delhi Capitals and hope two other results go their way, but the win kept their dream alive for at least one more night. KKR have been the second-stingiest side of the tournament, but they haven't been especially quick with their wicket-taking. Not even once had they taken more than two wickets in the powerplay coming into this match. Then they won the toss on a pitch that had stayed under covers because of rains and chose to unleash their tall quicks, but not before the almost customary first over from left-arm spinner Anukul Roy. Tricky start: Finn Allen 8 bowled by Deepak Chahar, Ajinkya Rahane 21 caught off Bosch, Cameron Green 4 out to Ghazanfar. KKR 54/3 in 7.1 overs. Match-winning stand: Manish Pandey 45 off 33 and Rovman Powell 40 off 30 added 64 runs. Finish: Despite losing Powell 40, Tejasvi Dahiya 11, Rinku Singh 9_ and Anukul Roy 4_ sealed it with 7 balls left. MI bowling: Corbin Bosch 3/30, Bumrah 1/26, Chahar 1/23. Green was in action in the next over, running back and to his right for 33 metres to take over his shoulder a skier from Rohit. The ball was full enough, but there was some seam and some extra bounce to take the big edge. Suryakumar Yadav made perhaps his best start of this IPL, but then Dubey went round the wicket to cramp him up with some seam movement back in and had him playing on for 15 off six balls. Must-win game – loss would’ve ended campaign. Current: 6 wins, 6 losses, 1 no-result = 11 points, 6th place. Need: Win remaining 2 games to reach 15 points + rely on other results. RCB, GT, SRH already qualified. One spot left. Context: KKR had a poor first half but revived with 5 wins from last 6. The inconsistent Bosch, though, somehow kept MI in the hunt with the wickets of Rahane and Green. The delivery to Rahane was a beautiful length ball that seamed away and bounced extra, but it came after an ordinary start of nine off the first three balls. Then he had Green hitting a ball drifting down leg straight down the throat of long leg. Bumrah had his own back with a beauty to burst through the gap between Pandey's bat and pad, getting 1.8-degree seam movement with a 15-over-old ball, but KKR now needed only 30 off 30. And even though Bosch took a stunner at backward point to send Powell back, Rinku and Roy saw the nervy chase through with seven balls to spare. Bottom line: Bowlers set it up by taking 4 wickets in powerplay, Pandey-Powell’s 64-run stand rescued the chase. KKR live to fight another day, but still need help to make playoffs.