Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had a shocker of half an hour in the wee hours of their second game of the IPL 2021 campaign against the Mumbai Indians as the Eoin Morgan-led side bottled chasing 31 runs off the final five overs. No one, the fans, experts, cricketers, the celebrities world over could believe what was transpiring in front of their eyes as batsmen like Dinesh Karthika and Andre Russell were finding it difficult to get the ball off the square when the run-rate was pretty much achievable.
KKR were cruising for the most part of the game and even the team management would be puzzled seeing how did they come from 104 in 13 overs to 142/7 in their 20 overs. The leg-spinner Rahul Chahar started the wickets procession in the ninth over removing the opening batsman Shubamn Gill as his first scalp of the night.
After which, Chahar just kept chipping at the wickets as he took wickets in the 11th, 13th, and the 15th over of the innings, taking wickets of Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana and skipper Eoin Morgan. Krunal Pandya, on the other hand, was the miser and removed Shakib Al Hasan in an important breakthrough for his team.
Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell didn't have an answer to some tight bowling by Jasprit Bumrah and Boult and KKR fell short by 10 runs off the target.
Bollywood superstar and team co-owner Shah Rukh Khan apologised to the fans of the KKR side after a humiliating loss. Taking to Twitter he wrote, "Disappointing performance. to say the least @KKRiders apologies to all the fans!"
Disappointing performance. to say the least @KKRiders apologies to all the fans!
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) April 13, 2021
Not just Shah Rukh, many people failed to come to terms with what they just witnessed.
Here are some of the reactions:
Brilliant at the end from #MI. But #KKR those last few overs???
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 13, 2021
Is there a better IPL captain than #RohithSharma under pressure and I am not talking about 5 trophies. Incredibly #MumbaiIndians Unbelievable game #KKRvsMI #MIvsKKR
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) April 13, 2021
Worst chase ever! 27 needed of 31 balls and they make a mockery of this.#KKRvsMI
— Nakuul Mehta (@NakuulMehta) April 13, 2021
MI to KKR- Dekha aapne laparwahi ka.natija. To defend 31 from 30 balls with 7 wickets of the opposition in hand is something which not many sides can defend. Brilliant bowling display from @mipaltan .#MIvsKKR pic.twitter.com/dIdd603wKL
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) April 13, 2021
#VivoIPL2021 KKR has lost some pathetic matches in the past but this loss and the awful batting order set by captain Morgan should rank as an all time low
— Gautam Bhattacharya (@gbsaltlake) April 13, 2021
Korbo Lorbo Chokbo re from KKR :(#IfNotDone
— Nikhil (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 13, 2021
It looks like KKR wanted to lose this game at any cost. Oh Kolkata! #IPL2021 What have you been thinking during those last overs!?
— Saif Hasnat (@saifhasnat) April 13, 2021
Rohit bowled and KKR never recovered from there. Deserves the Dream11 Gamechanger Award. #KKRvsMI
— Manya (@CSKian716) April 13, 2021