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IPL 2021: Sunil Narine as pivot, KKR end Virat Kohli dream as RCB captain
IPL 2021: A staggering 4/21 with his varied spin followed by a 15-ball 26 proved the big difference in an Eliminator of fine margins.
When Virat Kohli announced his decision to step down as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain before the resumption of the IPL second leg in the UAE, his team was primed to enter the playoffs. When it did by backing up its consistent show from the first half, his team was primed to place the cherry on his fruitless IPL captaincy cake.
It wasn’t to be. The three-time finalists were knocked out by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who won by four wickets and two balls to spare in the Eliminator in Sharjah on Monday, extending the Bangalore franchise’s seemingly never-ending cycle of hope, despair, more hope and some more despair. “All I can say is I've given my best,” Kohli said about his captaincy after the loss.
Despair was what twice former champions KKR found themselves in during the India leg, but they now stand two wins away from the trophy after closing out a tight game to take on Delhi Capitals in the second qualifier on Wednesday.
Also read: RCB vs KKR Eliminator Highlights
A 139-run chase wasn’t going to be a cruise on a pitch that gripped for the bowlers, and KKR needed a fast start. Shubman Gill provided that, collecting three straight fours off George Garton to begin the third over in his 18-ball 29 that was ended by Harshal Patel’s class and change of pace.
Venkatesh Iyer wasn’t able to match his partner in tempo, which meant KKR had an above average 48-run powerplay. Kohli brought spin on soon after, and Yuzvendra Chahal trapped Rahul Tripathi with a googly. While KKR attacked RCB with their spin trio, RCB only had the part-time off-spin of Glenn Maxwell to complement Chahal. The Aussie leaked 13 off the 10th over that included a spilled chance of Iyer by Shahbaz Ahmed. But the next over, the southpaw gloved a short ball from Patel down the leg side.
With 60 needed from nine overs, it was anybody’s game. A tactical masterstroke and a power-hitting cameo ensured it swung towards KKR. Narine, once a fearsome opener, was sent in to have a swing. So he swung, and it sailed. Two back-to-back sixes on the leg side followed by a one-handed heave that went straight above and beyond the ropes. It dealt a hammer blow for Dan Christian and RCB.
Narine single-handedly brought the equation down to 39 off 48, and it then was merely about batting sensibly. Rana didn’t, throwing his wicket away before Mohammed Siraj’s double strike sent back Narine and Dinesh Karthik in the 18th over. Eoin Morgan—the KKR captain who couldn’t seem to find a run this season—and Shakib Al Hasan showed their experience with 12 needed off 12, the latter’s ramp shot for four in the first ball of the final over finishing the job for KKR as a gloomy Kohli looked on.
It was Kohli himself who provided the initial fireworks with the bat, finding last-ball boundaries off the first two overs; the second with an added bonus of a free-hit four. The skipper took on young Shivam Mavi, dishing out those creamy lofted cover drives while Devdutt Padikkal enjoyed some freebies on his pads.
More than the boundaries though the RCB openers were nimble on the feet and alert in mind to cash in on any opportunity of the quick single: drop and run; search and scramble. There were 19 singles—compared to just nine dots—in the powerplay, keeping the pressure on the KKR bowlers.
One of those nine dots was a wicket, with Padikkal chopping on a cross-seam Lockie Ferguson length ball going for a drive at the start of the sixth over. At that point, RCB were 49/1 and flying. Out came the web of spin with which KKR brought them down.
Shakib bowled over the wicket to the right-handers; Varun Chakaravarthy kept it nice and tight; Narine began knocking them off from the 10th over. KS Bharat, coming off his last-ball six heroics in RCB’s last league game, laboured to a 16-ball 9 before holing out to long-off. Kohli’s tale of two strike-rates, pre- and post-powerplay, this season continued. The boundaries turned a rarity from the Kohli willow, with the flick over midwicket in the 12th over by Ferguson his first since the fifth.
The frustration showed in his body language: there were swing and mishits, swing and misses. His last miss, going for a sweep off Narine, saw the leg stump being castled that brought to an end his 39 (33 balls). It’s one thing to clean up Kohli, but to clean up Kohli and AB de Villiers off successive overs? No big deal for Narine. The magician kept it simple—bowling within the stumps on that nagging length with some turning ever so slightly and some going through—like it did between de Villiers’s bat and pad.
Even the in-form Maxwell struggled to break the shackles against this quality trio, striking largely at less than a 100 during his 18-ball stay. Once he top-edged a Narine delivery to short third man in the 17th over, RCB’s hopes of an injection of life into a dying innings faded.
