IPL 2021 | KKR vs PBKS: Hits & Flops as Kolkata’s poor strategy, sloppy fielding cost them two crucial points
The last shot by Shahrukh Khan, which eventually went for a six, after being dropped by Rahul Tripathi near the boundary ropes was actually the great summing up of KKR’s fielding efforts in the entire game. In total KKR dropped four chances, while one catch, which clearly looked out, was given not out, probably as punishment for dropping sitters early on (It was a very bad decision by the third umpire actually). However, at the end of the day, all that matters is that Punjab won the match by five wickets and collected the crucial two points. Courtesy of these two points, the Kings not only opened a way for themselves but also made sure that Delhi Capitals qualified for the Playoffs. But with this loss, KKR have now subjected themselves to a rigid qualification process where they can’t afford to lose even a single game between the two they play next. Like every game, this game had its Hits and Flops too which would be discussed in detail in the sections below. Hits KL Rahul Punjab Kings skipper almost became a villain from hero but was only denied the opportunity by the third umpire, who called a clean looking catch not out and gave the Indian batter an extra chance. Although he didn’t really capitalise on it and got out eventually in the next over, not before hitting a four of the last ball of the 19th over and bringing the equation down to five from six instead of something above six. But before all that drama, Rahul was brilliant with the bat playing the anchor superbly and hitting a much needed fifty to boost the morale of his troops. In his knock of 67 off 55 balls, the 29-year-old hit four fours and two sixes. His partnership of 70 runs for the first wicket alongside Mayank Agarwal was equally important in the context of the chase. In the captaincy department too, Rahul was on his toes and made calculative bowling changes to bowl the last three overs with his two best bowlers in Mohammad Shami and Arshdeep Singh. Arshdeep Singh In what has been two amazing seasons for the left-arm pacer, Arshdeep Singh has developed into one brilliant death over specialist. He is nailing the yorkers and doesn’t allow freewheeling by any batter. In today’s game too, the 22 year old was immaculate with his approach and precise with his accuracy as he took three KKR wickets at important junctures of the game. Arshdeep removed his Punjab buddy Shubman with a pitch of an inswinger that cut the batter in half. Then the left-hander struck at a crucial time once again and removed in-form Nitish Rana with a well-disguised slower one, getting him caught at deep square leg. The importance of the Nitishrana wicket can be gauged from the fact that he fell in the 18th over with the team score at 149 and in the next 14 balls, all his team could score was just 16 runs. In his and the KKR innings last over, Arshdep was simply at his best as he gave away just seven runs, one of which was bye and also removed Dinesh Karthik on the very last ball of the over. Shahrukh Khan Kept outside the XI for the last four games with no visible explanation, when Shahrukh Khan did get his chance, he made sure that it was well taken. The Tamil Nadu man walked in to bat in the 17th over with his team needing 32 off 21 balls. What does a batsman of that sort do, well he plays his natural game and that’s exactly what Shahrukh did. He hit two runs off the first ball he faced and then pulled Shivam Mavi for six, which could have also been his demise had Venkatesh Iyer held on to the magnificent catch. But as they say, you live by the sword and you die by it and Punjab needed someone of that sort in their lineup which had to become too modest in its approach. Then again when he got a strike in the next over, the beastly built cracked a length ball by Southee for four to extra cover. The last six that he hit, which also turned out to be the winning six, was once again on the fringes, but eventually sailed over the ropes because it was Shahrukh’s day and not KKR’s. In total, he scored unbeaten 22 of just nine balls to see his team home. In the next two games, Punjab would have higher expectations from him. Flops Eoin Morgan The strangest decision ever made among many strang decisions by Kolkata Knight Riders would be the decision to play an extra batsman in place of Lockie Ferguson and to go with only four legitimate bowlers and a VenkateshIyer to bowl four overs. The man who was able to bowl four good overs on the Sharjah track was chosen to bowl four overs in Dubai! Well, that’s KKR’s management for you, of which Eoin Morgan is a big part. Morgan not only failed with the bat, where he went to play a scoop off Mohammad Shami when no risk was required at all. On just the second ball that he faced, he tried a scoop, what could that possibly be termed other than brain fade. He then dropped a sitter of Agarwal in the very first over. And if that was not all, decided to bowl Shivam Mavi and Venkatesh Iyer in the last two overs. There was a flurry of decisions by Morgan that didn’t make sense, however, the biggest one was playing Tim Seifert when Shakib Al Hasan could have easily fit against a right-handed dominated Punjab batting line-up and in that way, Venkatesh wouldn’t have had to bowl in the death overs. Dinesh Karthik KKR’s performance in the field was such that it could have very well been Shivam Mavi who would have been named in the list of Flops, but the guy bowled only one bad ball, which was a full toss on the very last ball of the 19th over, game changer as it could be, but eight runs and five runs to defend with Venkatesh Iyer bowling the last over wouldn’t really have made the difference. On the other hand, Karthik was not only very bad with the bat, hitting only 11 runs off 11 balls, getting out on a pre-meditated scoop, even after calling himself a finisher, but was equally pathetic behind the stumps. He let a catch of Rahul go past him in the 18th over as he forgot to dive and also distracted the fine leg fielder. That could have been a real game-changer as, after Rahul, two new batters would have been at the crease. In the very next over he gave away a bye in a very tight situation too. In total, it was a messy affair by the Tamil Nadu player. Special Mention Ravi Bishnoi Apart from Arshdeep, Ravi Bishnoi has been another great find for Punjab. He carried on his knack of picking wickets at crucial junctures. Just when the 72 run partnership between Iyer and Tripathi seemed like getting KKR past 180, Bishnoi struck and removed Tripathi. Soon enough, he also removed Iyer and played a major role in restricting KKR below 180.
 "Mayank Kumar")
