Kolkata Knight Riders beat Punjab Kings by 5 wickets in Match 21 to end their four-game losing streak in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 on Monday.
Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Rahul Tripathi sounded really happy and content with his team’s performance in Match 21 which they won by 5 wickets against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 on Monday.
Kolkata Knight Riders Batsman Rahul Tripathi Credits Bowlers For Restricting Punjab Kings To A Low Total
Playing the first game of the IPL 2021 in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, Kolkata Knight Riders first restricted PBKS to 123 for 9 in 20 overs with 5 bowlers among the wickets and then, chased down the below-par total in 16.4 overs thanks to the 66-run partnership between Rahul Tripathi and his captain Eoin Morgan for the 4th-wicket. The win helped KKR end their four-match losing streak this season and also helped them move up 3 places to 5th position on the IPL 2021 table.
“Feels nice that we’ve won the game. It was an important game for us after having lost three games in a row. Bowlers did extremely well to restrict them to a low total. We did lose early wickets but we knew that if we played proper cricketing shots, we could chase it down,” Tripathi said.
The right-handed No. 3 batsmen scored 41 off 32 balls and was the more aggressive partner when he was batting with skipper Eoin Morgan, who remained unbeaten on 47 off 40 balls.
Rahul Tripathi Thought He Was Run Out In The 4th Over But Was Disappointed To Lose His Wicket In The 11th Over
But despite ending up on the winning side, Rahul Tripathi said he was very disappointed to have given away his wicket in the 11th over without completing the chase. He also shed light on the close run-out chance which he survived, even though at that moment he had thought that he was out and started to walk back to the KKR dugout.
“Yeah, I thought I was out (on that dive which saved him from a run out). Saw the throw coming and felt that I was a fraction late. Was a little upset but on seeing the replay, was really happy. I was set, wanted to take a chance against the off spinner. Probably should have gone harder, went half-hearted. Rash shot. Would have loved to carry on,” Rahul Tripathi said.
The two-time champions KKR will get very little recovery time after this game as they will have to be ready for Delhi Capitals within 2 days’ time at Motera.
PBKS, who made one change to their playing XI, bringing in Chris Jordan to replace Fabian Allen, were put in to bat first on a fresh surface in Ahmedabad. PBKS lost KL Rahul after the score was 36 while Chris Gayle was dismissed soon after of the very first ball he faced.
The likes of Deepak Hooda, Mayank Agarwal, Moises Henriques, and Nicholas Pooran followed suit and were dismissed with a score of 79/6 in the 15th over. Chris Jordan’s 30 off 18 balls wasn’t enough to register a match-winning total. Prasidh Krishna took 3 wickets while Pat Cummins and Sunil Narine picked 2 scalps.
Then, Kolkata Knight Riders were reduced to 17/3 with Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, and Sunil Narine back in the pavilion. Rahul Tripathi survived a run-out chance as his 66 run partnership with Eoin Morgan saw KKR winning despite losing Rahul Tripathi and Andre Russell in quick succession.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 126/5 (Eoin Morgan 47*, Rahul Tripathi 41; Moises Henriques 1/5) beat Punjab Kings 123/9 (Mayank Agarwal 31, Chris Jordan 30; Prasidh Krishna 3/30) by 5 wickets.