Kolkata Knight Riders have been troubled the most whenever they have faced 5-times champion Mumbai Indians . They have won only once in their last 5 meetings that too when Andre Russell went berserk at the Eden Gardens.
This time was no different as Kolkata Knight Riders lost the match, which they should have won comfortably, by mere 10 runs due to some reckless batting from the Kolkata Knight Riders middle order . At one stage the Knight Riders had wiped out 72 in 8.5 overs. However, one brought not two, but three. While Rahul Tripathi was out to square turn, opened up completely by one that pitched way outside leg, Morgan dragged one to deep midwicket.
Knight Riders needed 49 off 43 then . In the last ball of Rahul Chahar’s spell , set batsman Rana tried to play an irresponsible shot which caused him his downfall. Soon after , Shakin-Al-Hasan departed after trying to take unnecessary risk leaving Kolkata Knight Riders in despair. Andre Russell looked completely out of form as he was not able to connect when the team needed him to.
Kolkata Knight Riders will be gutted with their performance as at one stage they were cruising towards victory with run-a-ball required. Plenty of questions are being raised at the approach of the Knight Riders batsmen as it required a but more character from them .
With this disappointing defeat, Kolkata Knight Riders have lost 22 matches against Mumbai Indians out of 28 matches played in the history of the IPL which is most by any team against an opponent in the star studded league. This heartbreaking defeat must have left plenty of questions for the KKR management and fans – did Rana need to play that shot off Chahar’s last ball? Did Morgan and Shakib showed the right approach with run-a-ball required to win? experienced stalwarts of the modern game, long-time leaders at that. There will be a sombre team meeting tonight for sure.
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