IPL2021: Kolkata Knight Riders Make Heavy Weather of Chasing Delhi Capital's Total, Reach the Finals by @Bits & Banter - Post Details
IPL2021: Kolkata Knight Riders Make Heavy Weather of Chasing Delhi Capital's Total, Reach the Finals
The second qualifier of #IPL2021 was the stuff legends are made of. And not really in the right sense of the word. For the records, KKR restricted DC to 135 runs in their 20 overs and crossed the line with two balls to spare. By the definition of close finishes, this was a humdinger. And yet, #KKR would be kicking themselves for getting cornered so badly as their dynamic opening duo of Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer had put on 96 runs in 12.2 overs which left just 40 to get off 46 deliveries. Should have been a walk in the park and not across hot coals as it turned out. On their part, #DC made their share of errors by not bringing back their two prime attacking bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje till the Gill-Venky duo had settled down rather well. But, once the breakthrough came in the 13th over, several more followed with two coming off the 20th over bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin. The off spinner was on a hat-trick but the solid Rahul Tripathi converted the ball into a winning one for his team with a huge six straight back over the bowler. When Delhi batted, the KKR bowlers were handled very well by Eoin Morgan. Varun Chakravarthy was the epitome of guile and so was Sunil Narine, but for his first over that went for plenty. On their part, DC too kept postponing the big hits till very late in the day. Even in the power play they had 18 dot balls compared to 10 from KKR - a match-up they lost decisively and never really emerged out of it.
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IPL 2021 - Kolkata Knight Riders Snuff Out Royal Challengers Bangalore in Eliminator Round
It was a game of errors punctuated by moments of brilliance. When #RCB took the decision to bat, we wondered what made Virat Kohli change his template that revolved around chasing. After the power play, it looked like the team had made the right choice as they'd crossed 50 runs. Then the wind was out of their sails as #KKR spin twins Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine virtually choked their batters. Varun bowled four overs for just 20 runs while Narine picked up Kohli, Maxwell, Bharat and AB de Villiers in his quota. The writing was very much on the wall as RCB couldn't even get a 100 runs in the last 14 overs. Out came a resurgent KKR who seem to have mastered Sharjah in this season. Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer got to 40 runs in the fifth over before the former fell to his new found aggression. As for Iyer, he seems to have changed costumes from an aggressor to an accumulator - a role that hasn't really brought him good returns in recent matches. When Iyer got out in the eleventh over, KKR was on 79 runs needed some solid hits. Out walked Sunil Narine and scored 20 runs in three deliveries - three sixes and two wides gifted by bowler Dan Christian, who went for plenty and more in his two overs. It was a masterstroke from skipper Eoin Morgan though we were left wondering why Virat Kohli didn't match it up by getting left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed into the fray. Those shots changed the momentum for KKR but the penchant for players to hog the strike and remove the momentum from a free swinging batsman came calling here as well. We had Nitish Rana do it first and then Dinesh Karthik, who appeared to be back to his cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof avatar. It was left to the cool heads of Morgan and the Shakib-al-Hasan to guide the former champions home and on to a clash with Delhi Capitals for a place in the finals against Chennai Super Kings.
IPL2021: Chennai Super Kings Lose Third on the Trot as Punjab Kings Finally Arrive, Albeit Too Late
It was an inconsequential game for Chennai Super Kings as they were now guaranteed a top-2 finish on the points table, post RCB's loss last night. But, losing three in three matches will definitely cast a shadow on M S Dhoni and his team as they prepare for a Delhi Capitals face-off on Sunday. As for Punjab Kings, they finally got their A-game to the ground, the first time we saw skipper KL Rahul play with abandon. It resulted in him missing a well deserved century by just two runs and staying unbeaten at that. Of course, it will leave his Team India skipper Virat Kohli beaming as would his future mentor Dhoni. The Punjab bowlers have had a good tournament with Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and later entrant Harpreet Brar making an impression on the games they played in. Even Ravi Bishnoi continued to impress though in the second leg he was probably a bit less attacking in mindset. Today, they kept CSK under a leash with only Faf du Plessis managing a score of substance as the team ended with 134 in their 20 overs. The Punjab batsmen appeared to have a few Patiala pegs before coming to the crease as both Rahul and Mayan Agarwal set about their tasks with a lot of gusto. They got to 48 runs in the fifth over before Mayank fell to - who else but Lord Thakur, who also snapped up Aiden Markram later. The think-tank sent up Sarfaraz Khan and Shahrukh Khan thereafter but the duo hardly made the scorers sweat. At the other end, Rahul was motoring along like a limousine, hitting some classic shots, none better than the flick for six behind square leg. While Punjab go back home a happy lot with the win, CSK would be a tad worried as the momentum needs to shift once again. They do get a second chance in case they lose the Qualifier-1 but knowing Dhoni, he would start his mind games the moment he goes out to toss with his successor Rishabh Pant on the day.
#IPL2021 - KKRvsSRH - Gill finds form while Hyderabad finds Umran Malik
As a match, the Kolkata Knight Riders versus Sunrisers Hyderabad encounter never reached any great heights. Batting first the underperforming Hyderabad team continued to underperform with a patchy and unsatisfactory 115 for 8. Kane Williamson was the top-scorer with 26. A total of this smallness was never going to test the all-guns-blazing Kolkata batsmen --- even though SRH had actually defended the same score three years back against MI. But SRH bowlers bowled with lot of heart especially the under fire Bhuvanesh Kumar. KKR found going tough and slow, but Shubman Gill finally found some form and patiently piloted his team to close to victory target while Dinesh Karthik gave the finishing touches. For SRH, the net bowler turned regular bowler Umran Malik was impressive. His pace and bounce disconcerted all batsmen. Malik, who had traveled to UAE as a net bowler but made it to the side because T Natarajan tested positive for Covid, may be one for the future. KKR with a better run-rate is currently ahead of the other teams vying for the fourth playoffs slot in the table. But you never know.
#PBKSvsMI - Can Mumbai Indians carry forward the winning momentum?
In the 42's game of #IPL2021, #MumbaiIndians beat #PunjabKings in another low-scoring encounter. This could very well be the turning point for the team Mumbai Indians. While their top order is still a concern with Surya Kumar Yadav unable to score runs, seeing Saurabh Tiwari and Hardik Pandya among runs could be a big positive. Speaking of big, Keiron Pollard continues to cement his authority with both bat and ball. As for Punjab Kings, Ravi Bishnoi has become a mainstay of their bowling attack and by taking wickets of Rohit Sharma and Surya Kumar Yadav in successive deliveries, he's shown the team management yet again that he's too hot a player to be benched. With the points table changing with every game, though CSK and DC are almost through to the knock-out stage, it’s the other 2 places that are still up for grabs and RCB might want to confirm their ticket for the next stage! #IPL #IPL2021 #PBKS #PBKSvsMI #MI #mumbaiIndians #RaviBishnoi #HardikPandya #JaspritBumrah
CSK vs KKR - Chennai Super Kings Takes It Deep Despite Kolkata Knight Riders Floundering Early
After two relatively easy games from Chennai Super Kings, it was the turn of Kolkata Knight Riders to take the game deep. In the end, the game ended on the last ball with Deepak Chahar scoring the winning run off Sunil Narine after the latter took a wicket and almost defended four runs. The game began rather sedately for KKR who didn't replicate their frenetic starts after Shubman Gill got run out and Venkatesh Iyer hit a few but didn't go through as he had done in the past. The middle overs belonged to CSK as Dhoni set brilliant fields and choked the KKR batsmen. In fact, but for a late order blitz from Dinesh Kartik, the men in purple would have folded up for much less than the 171 runs they compiled. When the CSK batsman began their chase, both Rituraj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis came out with definite intent scoring at every opportunity and even creating several more. The duo had taken the game away from KKR for all practical purposes but once again the middle order of CSK didn't exactly cover themselves in glory. In fact it was left for Ravindra Jadeja to get them close to the target with some lusty blows off Sam Curran in the 19th over. In the end, CSK prevailed and now join DC at the top of the table with 16 points and four matches left to play, virtually assured of a top-4 place.
IPL 2021 - RCB vs SRH - Review Hindi - SunRisers do a KKR to capitulate to Royal Challengers
If you had missed the Mumbai Indians heist against Kolkata Knight Riders the day before, you were not the only ones as SunRisers Hyderabad too seemed to have missed it. For, they followed the #KKR innings script almost to perfection and conceded an easy match to Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chepauk grounds in Chennai. #SRHvsRCB #RCB huffed and puffed their way to 149 runs off 20 overs, losing eight wickets in the process. However, the big story of their innings was that Glenn Maxwell finally got the #IPL monkey off his back, scoring a half century to guide his team to what appeared a par score, though Virat Kohli said later that they had drawn their lessons from the #MI heist of the previous day. When SRH came to bat, it was Mohammed Siraj who delivered 12 brilliant deliveries that bottled up David Warner and snapped Wriddhiman Saha. Kohli looked to have made a calculated error by bowling Kyle Jamieson up front as he went for 26 runs off two overs when Siraj just conceded 2 runs. Warner appeared to be in the mood and was joined by Manish Pandey and the duo appeared to be chugging along. However, when Warner got out in the 14th over for a 37-ball 54, things just went south as the Hyderabad team lost seven more wickets in the remaining overs, three of which went to Shahbaz Ahmed who ended the match with amazing figures of 3-7 off his two overs. It was an abject batting display from SRH once again which left Warner hot under the ears, though it must be said that it was his dismissal that triggered it. With a few more matches to play in Chennai, the teams might have just got the template for success - go hard during the power play, consolidate during the middle overs and stop aiming high. Most importantly, ensure that a well set batsman is available for the last five overs.