Co-owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise, Shah Rukh Khan took to Twitter to express his disappointment after the team lost by 10 runs against defending champions Mumbai Indians in Chennai.
Khan took to Twitter and apologised to KKR fans for the “disappointing performance” of the Eoin Morgan-led KKR side.
KKR were cruising to victory in the 15th over with seven wickets in hand chasing a modest total of 153. Opener Nitish Rana lost his wicket to Rahul Chahar on the final ball of the leg-spinner’s spell. Rana scored 57 runs from 47 deliveries before becoming Chahar’s fourth victim of the match.
With Rana back in the pavillion, KKR needed just over run-a-ball but Shakib Al Hasan lost his wicket in the 16th over trying to slog-sweep Krunal Pandya. KKR needed 31 runs from 28 balls with experienced campaigners and big-hitters Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik in the middle.
However, Russell and Karthik struggled to get the boundary. An out-of-form Russell even struggled to get bat on ball before he struck a free hit delivery for a boundary from Jasprit Bumrah. With Bumrah giving just four runs in the penultimate over, KKR needed 15 runs off the final over.
Kiwi fast bowler Trent Boult was spot on with his executions and got the wicket of Russell and Pat Cummins with consecutive deliveries to help MI win the match by 10 runs. Boult gave just four runs in the final over. Earlier, skipper Morgan got out playing a reckless shot off leg-spinner Chahar.
KKR off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also reacted to the team’s loss. He walked in to bat when KKR needed 13 runs to win from two deliveries.
"We needed to bat around and complete the chase. The games that have been played here, it would suggest that there is a trend [of scoring getting tough towards the end of the match] in the games that have been played so far, barring AB de Villiers in the chase," said captain Eoin Morgan after the match.
"Mumbai have been performing like this for a long time. That would be something we need to assess. Made a few mistakes, will need to sort it out. I think the perfect game is to be able to do both [go all-out in the attack and otherwise] and we have managed to do neither in the end," added Morgan as he blamed his batsmen.
"It is disappointing [to lose]. Played some good cricket for most part of the game. We looked comfortable in the chase. But they are a strong team, came back well and sad that it didn't work out for us."
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