IPL 2021, KKR vs CSK: Another night, another loss for Kolkata Knight Riders. Eoin Morgan’s men haven’t yet found the right rhythm to fight for the IPL 2021 title. After winning the first match, KKR have slumped to three defeats on the trot, tottering on 6th place on the points table with just two points from four matches. On Wednesday, it was another tough night and Wankhede Stadium could not change the fortunes as KKR suffered an 18-run loss to Chennai Super Kings despite Andre Russell and Pat Cummins’ blitzkriegs, chasing 221.
Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad set the stage for CSK with 95 and 64 respectively before Deepak Chahar brought his swingers to derail KKR’s plans completely. Inside the powerplay, KKR were down to 31/5, staring at a heavy defeat. But Russell and Cummins helped KKR save the grace with fighting knocks. However, despite the third loss on the bounce, Eoin Morgan has found positives.
“Throughout the whole of the innings, we were up with where CSK were in the first innings but obviously, haven’t made those five mistakes. Those did cost us, but I think we have to be proud of getting so close and actually putting ourselves in a winning position, particularly Pat Cummins towards the end playing beautifully,” Eoin Morgan said at the post-match press conference.
IPL 2021, KKR vs CSK: ‘Wasn’t bothered about net run rate when we we’re 31/5,’ Eoin Morgan
With Deepak Chahar cleaning up the Kolkata Knight Riders top order, reducing them to 31/5 inside the powerplay with a brilliant 4/29 figure, Eoin Morgan must have been staring at the points table and taking his calculator out to find how bad the defeat could hurt. Considering KKR had missed out on the playoffs on net run rate in the last two editions of IPL. But Morgan wasn’t bothered about that factor at all. He was still trying to find a solution to KKR’s collapse.
“I wasn’t bothered about net run rate. I think when you’re 31/5, you worry about the result of the game and actually try and find a solution to try and put yourself in a winning position. I think Dinesh Kartik and Andre Russell did that. I think their partnership really did turn the momentum and fortune in our way. Considering the really bad start that we had, it really did flip things right in our favour,” Eoin Morgan said.
IPL 2021, KKR vs CSK: ‘Deep batting lineup is our strength,’ Eoin Morgan says
From 31/5 with half the batsmen gone including Morgan, Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik put up a valiant fight. Both Russell and Karthik took on CSK bowlers from the word go to keep Kolkata Knight Rider’s chances alive with 54 off 22 and 40 off 24, respectively. Later, Pat Cummins joined in with a 34-ball 66 after Russell departed. However, it wasn’t enough as Kolkata Knight Riders were bowled out for 202 in 19.1 overs. Morgan reflected on the deep batting lineup and said that the experience in batting helped them close the gap.
“I think the only thing that matters in T20 cricket is that you have 120 balls per innings to make an influence on the game or an impact in the game. And today reflects that. We have a very deep batting lineup and it was one of our strengths. We have a lot of experiences in that middle and lower middle order and today we saw that,” Eoin Morgan said.
IPL 2021, KKR vs CSK: ‘Bowlers did a reasonable job,’ Eoin Morgan says
Unlike Chennai wickets, the Wankhede pitch turned out to be batting heaven with early assist for seamers. It was on full display with two teams scoring 221 on the same pitch. But the question should be raised on KKR’s bowling too despite Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s brilliance, especially the pacers. Pat Cummins went for 58 in his 4, Prasidh Krishna gave away 49 in his 4, Kamlesh Nagarkoti conceded 25 in 2 while Andre Russell too was expensive, conceding 27 in two overs. All four pacers combined managed only 1 wicket. However, Morgan said the bowlers did a reasonable job on such a batting pitch, despite CSK scoring 220.
“Today upon reflection after both sides have batted, I think they did a reasonable job. When you look at the position that we were in from the powerplay onwards and only falling 20 rooms short, you don’t have to be an optimist to think that we would have been in a good position if we had batted better at the top of the order,” Eoin Morgan said.
“Here, I think it’s different circumstances in different conditions. I think Chennai was a completely different challenge where the bowling was actually really good bar our last game that we had there with three no balls a probably a fielding performance that didn’t aid our bowlers in any way. It would have been chasing a score of 200 plus down to 180, which would have been achievable on that wicket. Previous to that, our bowlers have been outstanding,” he added.
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