Knight Riders in line for a final playoff spot: They enjoyed the perfect game on Thursday, keeping the Royals to their second successive sub-100 total.
Unless the Mumbai Indians perform an even more miraculous miracle than their grand escape in 2014. The Kolkata Knight Riders have sealed a fourth and final place in the playoffs on the solid opening rostrum.
The 2021 IPL to ensure that after sending in a competitive total, loads of cameos from their middle order to elevate them to the season’s best total on this floor, and a ruthless bowling show to keep the Rajasthan Royals in their second-place under the 100s in a row.
They may have preferred to hunt given all of Net-run-rate’s permutations, but this route suited them well too. They started the day with an NRR of 0.294 and their 86-run win lifted them to .587. Mumbai, which is at -0.048, will have to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by a ridiculous margin on Friday to close that gap.
Gill and Iyer lay solid platform
The gameplay was pretty clear during the initial substitution. The royals bowled only during their first 10 overs. And all of their seamstresses were trying to hit the shorter side of a good length. And throw hawkers and tailors into the field.
Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer tried to counter this tactic. By shuffling out of their arc to create momentum towards the ball.
The first nine overs produced a contest that neither side dominated. With the runs coming at barely over a run a ball. But with no wickets falling Knight Riders came out of it the happier side.
Then Iyer hit two sixes on the 10th lap. With Jaydev Unadkat throwing too much once and throwing a perfectly acceptable ball the other. Only to be hit over his head by a short-lived direct hit. In the next over.
Gill went out for the first spin ball of the night. Found himself far from the ball field. And reached out to meet Rahul Tewatia for a fully controlled one-handed six-on long-on. The Knight Riders went 75 for 0 in 10.1 overs.
Middle-order blasts off
Nitish Rana set the tone, only holding five balls but hitting 12 of them. Celebrating the royal’s decision to throw a part-time supporting player at him. Rana is a left-handed player who definitely has no problems with deflection. As evidenced by his IPL record against this style of bowling with an average of 42.00 and a hit rate of 162.79. As well as his previous takedowns by R Ashwin.
Glenn Phillips is not an Ashwin. And he passed Rana twice to take a carved four behind the point and a big six on the court. Despite Rana pitting immediately afterward, Phillips conceded at the end of 17 at 12 and Rahul Tripathi pitched the last ball from him for a first four.
The final 10 overs brought the Knight Riders 102 runs and left the Royals in an extremely difficult chase against one of the best grounds in the competition.
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