Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Thripathi smashed half centuries as Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Mumbai Indians by nine wickets in the IPL at Zayed Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Mumai reached 155-6 in their 20 overs - with South African Quinton De Kock top-scoring with 55 - but Kolkata chased that down 29 balls to spare.
Kolkata's second win in a row moved them ahead of Mumbai and into the top half of the eight-team league.
Iyer - who made a fine IPL debut with an unbeaten 41 against Royal Challengers Bangalore - fell to a slower ball from Jasprit Bumrah for 53, but not before he had laid the platform for his side’s victory.
The opener hit four fours and three sixes in a 30-ball knock, and shared an 88-run stand for the second wicket with Thripathi, who remained undefeated on 74 off 42 balls. He hit eight fours and three sixes to take Kolkata over the line.
“The coach tells us to be positive and I feel that when you're positive then the extra pressure goes towards the bowlers,” Tripathi said of his match-winning knock.
“It was important to hit the boundaries early. I’m so happy.”
For Mumbai, it was their second defeat in the restarted competition taking place in the UAE after going down to Chennai Super Kings. The defending champions sent into bat first were given a solid start by Rohit Sharma and De Kock with the pair adding 78 off 56 balls.
Mumbai had dominated their opponent over recent seasons, winning 12 of their last 13 meetings, but they were no match for a rejuvenated Kolkata this time round.
Spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine bowled fine spells with Lockie Ferguson the pick of their bowling with 2-27 from four overs.
“We started really well but didn't get enough in the back end,” Mumbai captain Rohit, who scored 33 off 30 balls, said.
“It was a good pitch to bat on. We failed to capitalise on the start. We didn't bowl pretty well to start with. We spoke about being on the stumps and let the batters take chances - however that didn't happen.
“The basics of cricket is that you make small partnerships. That stopped us from taking on the bowlers. We've fought well in the past really well, hopefully all of us can pull together.”
