IPL 2020: Match 24: KKR snatches victory from the jaws of defeat

Kolkata Knight Riders snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in their previous encounter against Chennai Superkings. Kings XI Punjab has been all about their opening batsmen because as a team they have been losing matches on a streak. As these 2 teams met each at Abu Dhabi earlier today, Kings XI wanted a win very badly to get their campaign back on track while KKR wanted to continue with the winning momentum. So how did it unfold?

Here are my 5 points highlights for today’s match.

1. Arshdeep Singh

IPL has been over the years a great platform for young Indian players to showcase their talent in front of a global audience. This tournament is no less than any world class tournament because barring Pakistan you have all the teams represented and the best players of all cricketing nations come to play in this tournament. So when any young Indian player does well it works as a tonic because they get the confidence that they can compete with the best. Over the years we have seen some very good players emerging from IPL which includes, Hardik Pandya, Chahal, Bumrah, etc. Arshdeep Singh was playing his second game today. His figures do not tell you the full story. Today’s returns were 1/25 but his impact was much bigger than that. First of all, he bowled a maiden which is a rare commodity in T20 cricket and that too in the power play, and then bowled the 19th over against the well set Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell. KKR was all set to score around 180 but Arshdeep kept hitting the yorker-length ball after ball and didn’t allow the batsmen to break free. In between, he picked up the wicket of Russell too. Well played young man – he needs to work a bit on his pace but otherwise, he looks a good prospect.

2. Dinesh Karthik

The captain of KKR has been terribly out of form this season. He had been going up and down in the batting order too. Today he came in at number 5 which I think is the right position for him. Today Kolkata Knight Riders were in a tough situation when he came into bat. 63/3 in the 11th over was not a very ideal scenario for a batsman to come in who is horribly out of touch. But, sometimes these situations bring out the best from some people, and that’s exactly what happened. 58 off 29 balls was a truly superlative effort and went a long way in helping KKR reach a respecting total to defend. 

3. Mayank Agarwal

Mayank Agarwal has not only scored a lot of runs but scored them at a fair clip. He is second in the list of highest run-scorers this year and his partnership with KL Rahul has been the only bright spot for Kings XI this season. He was the dominant scorer once again today and till the time he was there, it was a walk in the park for Kings XI. He scored 56 off 39 balls and his wicket in the 15th over opened the flood gates and allowed KKR to make a comeback. There is a saying that when in form finish the job in hand. This is something that both Mayank and Rahul are learning the hard way.

4. Prasidh Krishna 

I was very surprised that KKR decided to leave out Prasidh Krishna from their starting line up for so long. For the last couple of seasons, he has been playing for KKR and showed very good maturity to bowl both in the power play as well as in the death overs. With Mavi going for a lot of runs in the last match, KKR decided to start with Prasidh Krishna today. In the very second ball that he bowled, he should have had the wicket of KL Rahul but Andre Russell spilled the chance. He kept hustling and got his reward in the 15th over when he got the wicket of Mayank Agarwal to break the opening partnership of 115 runs which had taken Kings XI to the brink of victory. He came back to bowl the 19th over and changed the match completely. He gave away just 6 runs and picked up 2 wickets including the wicket of KL Rahul to leave Naraine to save 14 runs in the last over. For me, Prasidh Krishna was the Man of the Match because his returns of 3/29 with wickets of Mayank and Rahul made the difference in this match.

5. Sunil Naraine

KKR has won many matches just due to Naraine’s heroics but it has mainly happened a few years back before his remodeled action. After he came back with the new action his habit of taking wickets has reduced but he still remains an effective bowler and the opposition still treats him with respect. In the previous game against CSK, Naraine came to bowl quite late in the day and played his part to choke the chase. It was a similar condition today and he played a similar role too. First, he took the wicket of a dangerous looking Pooran and then bowled the final over and kept his cool to take KKR to victory.

A nail-biting finish with the match won by only 2 runs by KKR but what was unique about this match that if the last ball went for a 6 it would have been a tie and the ball fell just 2 inches short of the boundary. Kings XI must consider themselves very unlucky to lose from such a winnable position but I guess they have only themselves to blame.

So what do you think? 

Will the Andre Russell injury, hit KKR hard? Should Chris Gayle replace Maxwell? Should Kings XI play Prabhsimran or should they get Sarfaraz Khan back in the XI?

Please share your thoughts!

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