The second qualifier of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had all the ingredients of a Bollywood masala movie. It had emotions, drama and in the end, heartbreak.
Chasing a low target of 136, KKR withered after a good 96-run opening stand between Shubhman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer. KKR's batting collapse reduced them to 129/5 in the final over with Rahul Tripathi and Shakib Al Hasan in the middle and it looked that the game was turning in the opponent’s favour with three quick wickets and barely any runs scored.
Ravichandran Ashwin was given the task to defend seven runs. The off-spinner gave just a single in the first two balls and then went on to dismiss KKR’s star all-rounders in the next two deliveries tilting the game in DC’s favour. However, Ashwin bowled a flattish delivery outside the off-stump on the fifth ball and Tripathi held his shape to hit it over long-off to put an end to all drama and guide KKR to IPL 2021 final.
Post the match, former Indian captain-turned-commentator Sunil Gavaskar dissected Ashwin’s last over.
“Ashwin is a very clever bowler. He knew exactly what to bowl to which batsmen. He was reading the batsman’s mind. He knew Sunil Narine was going to come up and just go hard at everything. So, he bowled him just a little bit wider, and he was caught by the fielder at long-on,” Gavaskar said speaking to the host broadcaster.
The former legendary batter talked about where the Delhi bowler went wrong in his calculation in bowling the penultimate delivery.
“On the final ball, he just miscalculated. He thought Tripathi was going to run down the pitch and he did not. He bowled a little bit flatter, so it will not be in the arc, in case he rushes down the pitch. But, what Tripathi did what he also anticipated and he hit a great shot and a great way to finish,” Gavaskar concluded.
