Quinton de Kock led from the front by notching up his third half-century of the season, as Mumbai Indians comfortably defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Kolkata Knight Riders started disastrously by losing Rahul Tripathi who fell to a stunning catch by Suryakumar Yadav off Trent Boult.
Nathan Coulter Nile playing his first game got the better of Nitish Rana, as the the latter was dismissed for just 5 runs.
Rahul Chahar in the 8th over struck twice in succession by dismissing the well set Shubman Gill and former skipper Dinesh Karthik, as KKR were reduced to 42/4.
Andre Russell’s miserable run with the bat continued as he was dismissed by an unplayable bouncer from spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for 12.
New skipper Eoin Morgan and Pat Cummins joined together and added a valuable unbeaten 87 run stand to take Kolkata Knight Riders to a competitive total of 148/5 at the end of their allotted 20 overs.
Cummins remained unbeaten on 53, while Morgan finished on 39 off 29 balls.
Chahar was Mumbai Indians best bowler with figures of 2-18, while Boult, Coulter-Nile and Bumrah chipped in with a wicket each.
Chasing 149, MI got off to a flier as Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock added 94 runs for the opening stand, before Shivam Mavi broke the stand in the 11th over by dismissing the former for 35, with a beautiful out-swinger.
Suryakumar Yadav scored a run ball 10, before he chopped a Varun Chakravarthy delivery onto to his stumps while attempting a sweep.
With 36 requiring off 36 balls, all rounder Hardik Pandya and De Kock ensured that there were no further hiccups, as Mumbai reached the target of 149 with 19 balls to spare.
Quinton De Kock was declared the Man of the Match for his swashbuckling innings of 78.