Riding on Miller’s fiery 42-ball 61 and a 37-ball 55 from Conway at the top, Texas got to a formidable 181 for 6 in front of a packed stadium. Mohsin, then deflated Knight Riders’ chase, registering figures of 4 for 8 in three overs as the hosts kicked off their campaign with an impressive win.
Along with Mohsin, Rusty Theron and Gerald Coetzee too chipped in with a couple of wickets each as the visitors were skittled out for 112 in just 14 overs.
The Knight Riders found themselves in trouble right from the start as pacer Theron dismissed Martin Guptill and Rilee Rossouw in the very first over.
Calvin Savage and Coetzee backed up Theron’s effort, sending Nitish Kumar and Unmukt Chand back to the pavilion in quick succession. Inside the powerplay, Knight Riders found themselves reeling at 20/4.
Swashbuckling Andre Russell tried to steady the fall but kept on losing partners at the other end. Skipper Sunil Narine and Russell however put the Knight Riders in a decent position at 103/5 at the end of the eleventh over, but Mohsin struck twice in the 12th, removing Narine and Corne Dry to put Texas back in control.
Dwayne Bravo put the final nail in the coffin when he dismissed Russell for 55 runs off 34 balls in the thirteenth over with the Knight Riders 73 runs away from the target. Mohsin then wrapped up the match in the very next over with the wickets of Adam Zampa and Lockie Ferguson.
Earlier, Knight Riders won the toss and put Texas in to bat. Conway got the hosts off to a flying start with three boundaries in the first over. However, Lockie Ferguson dismissed captain Faf du Plessis on the first delivery of the second over.
The Knight Riders’ bowlers continued to shine as Ali Khan sent Lahiru Milantha packing for 17 runs off 14 balls in the sixth over.
But thereafter, the two experienced campaigners, Conway and Miller changed the momentum of the match with a 77-run partnership off just 49 balls.
Conway took charge against fast bowler Dry and struck him for two boundaries in the seventh over before Miller also struck two fours off Dry in the ninth over. Miller found a maximum in each of the tenth, eleventh and thirteenth overs and took the Super Kings to 113/2 in 13 overs.
The Texas franchise kept losing wickets at regular intervals after Conway fell to Zampa in the 14th over but Mitchell Santner and Bravo smashed four sixes between them in the last few overs to help the Super Kings post a formidable total.