21 May,2026 04:20 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Manish Pandey (Pic: X/@KKRiders)
In the IPL 2026 match against Mumbai Indians (MI), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) emerged victorious by four wickets at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
While chasing a target of 148 runs, KKR's Manish Pandey and Rovman Powell registered a crucial partnership. Facing 33 balls, Pandey smashed 45 runs, laced with six boundaries. On the other hand, Powell accumulated 40 runs in 30 deliveries, with the help of four boundaries and two maximums.
Speaking about their partnership, former Team India cricketer Deep Dasgupta feels that the pitch was not an easy one to bat on.
"It was a tricky surface to bat on for sure. Mumbai Indians, having been put into bat first, would certainly have felt that they were 25 to 30 runs short. After the initial breakthroughs that Mumbai Indians' bowlers got, it felt at one point that if they picked up a couple more wickets, maybe the third and fourth, they could fancy their chances of winning this game. That is why this partnership between Rovman Powell and Manish Pandey was so crucial," he said on Star Sports.
He reserved his special praise for Manish, saying that the right-handed batsman was batting for the first time in the ongoing edition of the league, and he delivered an impactful knock.
"Manish was batting for the first time this season, and Rovman has also not had many opportunities to come out and bat. It is good to see them contribute. It is good to see Manish get a game and play an impactful innings. Once you have been part of the IPL for such a long period of time and teams show faith in you, you must repay that faith. Manish did that quite brilliantly against Mumbai," added Dasgupta.
Later, riding on their performances, the Knight Riders secured a dominating four-wicket victory in Kolkata. However, their fate in the tournament will depend on the results of other matches.
The Knight Riders will lock horns with Delhi Capitals (DC) on May 24 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Ajinkya Rahane (C), Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert (WK), Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sarthak Ranjan, Finn Allen (WK), Rachin Ravindra, Cameron Green, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani, Akash Deep, Prashant Solanki, Matheesha Pathirana, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Harshit Rana, Tejasvi Singh (WK), Daksh Kamra.
