It might have been a silly statistic given the time frame, but the fact was that Mumbai Indians had lost all six of their Indian Premier League matches played in the United Arab Emirates before their match against Kolkata Knight Riders. The fact also was that MI enjoyed the most lopsided head-to-head record against KKR. Ultimately, something had to give in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
As it turned out, MI extended their win-loss record against KKR to 20-6; a win percentage of 77%.
At the center of a comprehensive 49-run win were the performances of two of their main men: Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah.
Bumrah came into IPL on the back of three wicketless outings in white-ball cricket (three ODIs against New Zealand) before cricket was halted. Add to that the rustiness of not playing competitive cricket, his 1/43 against Chennai Super Kings raised some concern about his rhythm….