Eoin Morgan has said the poor display in the powerplay cost Kolkata Knight Riders the match against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2021 clash at the Wankhede.
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Kolkata Knight Riders were already on the backfoot in their IPL 2021 match against Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede stadium. Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad had smashed fifties and put on a partnership of 115. Moeen Ali and MS Dhoni chipped in as they ended on 220/3. In response, Kolkata Knight Riders had a disastrous start in the powerplay. Deepak Chahar took four wickets as Kolkata Knight Riders reached 31/5. Andre Russell, Pat Cummins and Dinesh Karthik kept the game alive with some aggressive knocks but Kolkata Knight Riders lost by 20 runs.
However, Eoin Morgan said the powerplay display, in which the top five batsmen scored 9,0,8,7 and 4 proved to be decisive. “When you are 31/5, you are actually worrying about the result. You are trying to find a solution to get yourself in a winning position. Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell did that. The partnership turned momentum our way, considering the bad start we had. We were up with were CSK were. Having made those five mistakes cost us. We should be really proud for the position that we ended up in. Pat Cummins played superbly. When you look at the position from the power play onwards and falling 20 runs short, we would have been in a good position had we not batted well,” Morgan said.
Even MS Dhoni said that if Kolkata Knight Riders had more wickets, they could have chased the total down. “From the 16th over onwards the contest was between the fast bowler and the batsman. You can’t do too much. Can’t put different field. It’s about you vs me. The side that has won is a side that has executed slightly better. But if they would’ve had more wickets, could’ve been different. Have seen enough in cricket, always like to be humble. There’s no good reason if you have scored, the opposition can’t score,” Dhoni said.
Kolkata Knight Riders have now conceded 200-plus totals in two consecutive games. Against Royal Challengers Bangalore, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell blew them away with fifties. At the Wankhede, Chennai Super Kings were in great form. Morgan, though, chose to look at the positives. He stated that considering the start that Chennai Super Kings got, the bowlers actually did a good job.
“It is different circumstances in different conditions. Chennai was a different game. Our bowling was good barring the last game. Three nobles and the fielding performance did not aid us. We ended up chasing 200 instead of 180 which was gettable. Looking at this match and the way how both sides batted, I think the bowlers did a decent job,” Morgan said.
