Dominate the middle overs and win the match. That has seemed to be the flavour of the Indian Premier League this season. The same was on display at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday night as the Kolkata Knight Riders clinched a convincing win despite having its back to the wall early on in the game.

As a result, in a game dominated by bowling units with all 20 wickets falling on the night, it was the 83-run association between Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey, who walked into bat as an Impact Player in the seventh over, in the middle overs of the first innings that turned out to be the differentiating factor.

Had it not been for the duo’s partnership, the Knight Riders – reeling at 53 for five a ball after the Powerplay – would have struggled to put on 169 runs before being bowled out in the last over. Suryakumar Yadav then tried his best to take a cue from Venkatesh but thanks to the Knight Riders’ spin duo controlling the middle overs, Suryakumar perished even before Mumbai Indians got close to the finish line.

HIGHLIGHTS: MI vs KKR – AS IT HAPPENED

ALSO SEE: Updated points table

As a result, Kolkata Knight Riders emerged as clear second in the standings while Mumbai Indians’ campaign will all but be over at the end of the league after its eighth loss of the season.

Venkatesh carried on from his sterling hundred at the same venue last season to notch up his fourth fifty-plus score in five outings against Mumbai Indians. He found an ally in veteran Pandey who kept the scoreboard flowing. As a result, in the nine-over period from the seventh till the 15th over, the Knight Riders added 75 runs for the loss of Rinku Singh, who top-edged back to Piyush Chawla off the first ball after the Powerplay.

Contrary to KKR, Mumbai Indians lost three wickets while adding 73 runs in the same period. The additional wickets proved to be the difference as the moment Suryakumar’s skier off Andre Russell was pouched by Phil Salt running behind, the game was all but over.

Just like Nuwan Thushara in the Powerplay and Jasprit Bumrah at the death in the first innings, Mitchell Starc targeted the stumps to finish the game off in a hurry.