Virat Kohli’s captaincy career in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 comes to an end as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) suffered a four-wicket defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Defending a total of 137, RCB had their moments but dropped chances and Sunil Narine’s counter-attack in the middle overs proved to be the difference between them and KKR. The Eoin Morgan-led side will now take on Delhi Capitals (DC) in the second qualifier of the season on October 13.
Shakib keeps a cool head
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan kept his calm in the last two overs as skipper Morgan struggled at the other end. With seven runs needed off the last over, the left-handed batter scored a boundary off the first ball with a scoop shot off Christian. The southpaw helped KKR finish off the run chase with two balls to spare. In the first innings, the left-arm spinner opened the bowling and gave just 24 runs from his four overs.
Harshal equals all-time IPL record
Harshal Patel equalled Dwayne Bravo’s eight-year-old record for most wickets in a single IPL season. Patel took 32 wickets from 15 games including season’s only hat-trick and a five-wicket haul. He took two wickets in the eliminator and missed the record by a whisker as Devdutt Padikkal dropped the catch in his last over. He gave just 19 runs in his four overs and got the wickets of both openers Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer.
Narine wreaks havoc
KKR’s experienced campaigner turned up big in the eliminator. Narine single-handedly tackled the downed RCB’s batting order taking the wickets of skipper Kohli, wicketkeeper-batter Srikar Bharat, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers. The Caribbean bowler kept the pressure on in the middle overs and did not let any of the RCB batsmen capitalise on the starts they got. It was Narine’s impact in the innings that RCB managed to post a below par total of 138/7. The 33-year-old entered IPL history books as well by becoming the first bowler to take three four-wicket hauls against a single opponent.
Later, in the run chase, the left-handed batter came and changed the game in just one over (12th) hitting Daniel Christian for three sixes. He did not take too many risks when Chahal was operating in the middle. He played a fantastic cameo scoring 26 runs off just 15 balls justifying the promotion up the order.
Chahal keeps RCB in hunt
KKR were cruising towards the target when Yuzvendra Chahal was introduced into the attack. Chahal took the wicket in first over trapping Rahul Tripathi with a googly. He came back into the attack and took Nitish Rana’s wicket just before the death overs. He bowled tremendously well and almost got the wicket of Karthik, who looked uneasy at the crease when the leg-spinner was finishing his spell. He finished with 16 runs and two wickets from his quota of four overs.
Christian’s horror show
This may turn out to be the Aussie all-rounder’s last IPL match. After a good performance against Delhi Capitals (DC) in the last league game, Christian was given the task to take wickets and keep the scoring rate down. However, the opposite happened as he leaked 22 runs from his first over. He had a shot at redemption in the end when Kohli handed him the ball to defend seven runs but the pacer could not do the job.
