KKR Clinches Victory In A Nail-biting Thriller Against RCB In TATA IPL 2024 Showdown
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured a dramatic one-run victory against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in TATA IPL 2024 showdown at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Karn almost accomplished a miracle with 21 runs remaining in the last over, but Phil Salt and the Knight Riders remained composed to force a run-out with the final ball.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 221 (Jacks 55, Patidar 52, Russell 3-25) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 222 for 6 (Shreyas 50, Salt 48, Green 2-35) by a single run.
Mitchell Starc almost failed to stop the 20 runs that he had to defend. He demonstrated in the span of six balls how tough it is to be a bowler in Twenty20 cricket and how he will always fly in the face of it. He went to his bread and butter after being struck for three sixes in the last over, which cut the score to three off two. He continued walking. He became enraged. And out came a wicket from him. The man who had revived this game, Karn Sharma, was no longer with us. The moment Starc made the catch, diving low to his right in the followthrough, RCB realized there would be no more miracles.
Ramandeep Singh made one up just for them. He made a terrible throw from a deep point. It was not clear or quick enough to come in. The wicketkeeper had a lot of work ahead of him. But Phil Salt was cool with it. He was quick enough to throw his entire body at the stumps and shatter it before Lockie Ferguson, who was ranked eleven, could make his ground and force a Super Over. He was also aware enough to step forward and reduce the distance the ball had to go. By one run, maybe five inches, KKR had prevailed.
RCB performed admirably in keeping Sunil Narine silent. Even while most teams are aware that they shouldn’t give him any space, they took it a step further and abandoned all pretense in an attempt to bowl only yorkers with leg stumps. It took eight balls for the season’s top hitter for KKR to reach base.
By blasting ten of the first thirteen balls to the boundary and flirting with the fastest fifty of the IPL 2024, Salt came to his rescue. He had a chance as well, but he was caught at deep midwicket after going for a six to a delivery that was quite hittable. Nevertheless, 48 off 14 with three sixes and seven fours is not to be laughed at.
In the tenth over, Karn bowled the first ball without a boundary. Rinku Singh was being quieted by Cameron Green, who for the first six balls of their head-to-head match produced three dots and two singles. Earlier, the Australian had dismissed Angkrish Raghuvanshi by using his height to great effect—leaping up to catch a ball that was moving quickly and 8.1 meters above the ground. He was now driving slower balls into the pitch and making them fly past Rinku’s bat swing.
RCB dominated the middle overs (economy rate 8, from 12.5 in the powerplay), despite Shreyas Iyer hitting his first IPL fifty since May 2022. Ferguson gave up a boundary with each ball in his opening over, but in his next three overs, he only let up one more. He also claimed a wicket thanks to a deft usage of the knuckleball, which became large for Rinku and sapped his strength.
In the 14th over, Andre Russell had entered the field. He was still 11 off 13 with just one hit to the fence at the eighteenth hole, and he was still playing around with the bowlers.
In an attempt to keep the ball outside of his striking arc, Yash Dayal sprayed an outside off that was too wide and an outside leg that was too wide, both of which beat the keeper and went for four. He had overreached, which only made things worse.
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Dayal was merely attempting to act morally, but this structure makes things really difficult. Shreyas let up 22 runs and two pings to the long-on boundary at the end of a 17-over, nine-ball match. Although the RCB had faith in him to finish the innings, the over ended in a 16. Once more, he made the correct decisions. went wide yorker, got smacked, and missed the mark. slowed down, but Muscle Russell managed to pull it off. recovered to put together two yorkers and a bouncer that only cost three runs, but Ramandeep ramped the final ball for four in a shrewd move. 222 KKR for six.
Furious After a long absence, Virat Kohli returned, arguing with the technology that had allowed him to throw a full toss that he was positive was over waist height. It was impossible for Faf du Plessis to stay around for very long. Once again, RCB found themselves in a familiar predicament when two of their least popular players chose to take a shot.
In the last over of the powerplay, Will Jacks hit Starc three sixes and a four, taking him out. The entire over demonstrated how KKR had bowled to him: slowly and in the slot. There is nothing better for a tall batter with a potent front-foot game. The RCB supporters seated at midwicket or along the stadium felt the same way.
Rajat Patidar, on the other end, settled into his groove. Ever since being benched by India during the Test match against England, he has appeared uneasy. It took some time for the batter, who depends more on feel than technique, to regain his form, but once it did, he was dominating with a 21-ball fifty. He struck 30 off 9 against Suyash Sharma (three sixes and two fours) and 16 off 8 against Narine (two sixes).
At this stage, RCB was 77% favourites and needed 86 off 54 balls. Russell then onto the field for his first over of the evening, dismissing both of the RCB’s half-centurions. He’s a sucker puncher for someone who wants to look like a UFC fighter. Running with great intensity. Properly powering through his motion. That tree-trunk like shoulder thrashing the ball down the pitch. However, the fingers work their magic, and suddenly a batter who was expecting to hit at 140 mph is hit at 115 mph.
That is a lesson Starc has yet to learn. Trusting his velocity and precision has been the key to his success, even throughout his time donning the opposing team’s colours in this IPL. This season, he’s only attempted a slower ball eleven times. This partly explains why, out of all bowlers in the IPL 2024, he has conceded the most boundaries—44. His thunderbolts, which in India don’t always kiss the pitch and fly through, are set up by the opposition. They sometimes sit up to be smacked.
But under duress, people tend to believe in the things that have previously served them well, and money is still money. He attacked it. The sound was a low, complete toss. After carving three sixes off near yorkers, Karn positioned himself to smash it to the ground. However, he was unable to apply enough force this time. He was only able to bunt it, and Starc was quick enough to dive to his right and pull off a brilliant move. In a game full of them, that one play proved to be crucial. Keep up the pace to win. Who was aware?
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Virat Kohli’s Dismissal Analysis
The ball would have passed the batsman below his waist as the TV umpire had used the latest ball-tracking equipment when he measured the delivery’s height.
During Virat Kohli’s dismissal during RCB’s chase of KKR at Eden Gardens on Sunday, the new Hawk-Eye technology to assess no-balls for height came into action.
In the third over of RCB’s chase of 223 runs, Kohli was dismissed for 18 off 7 balls after playing the ball well beyond his crease. He was caught and bowled off a high full toss from Harshit Rana. Even though the delivery was slower and appeared to be dipping on the batter, Kohli made contact with it when it was over waist height.
The ball would have passed the batter at 0.92 meters from the ground if Kohli had been standing up in the crease, according to the new Hawk-Eye ball tracking technology, which was used by TV umpire Michael Gough to determine if the delivery was legal for height. Given that Kohli’s waist was measured in advance to be 1.04 meters, the ball would have passed below his waist rather than outside it, rendering the delivery lawful, had he been on his crease.
Both Kohli and non-striker Faf du Plessis expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision to the on-field umpire. Plessis believed that it should have been a no-ball due to height.
This season, the IPL introduced technology to assess the height of the ball as it passes the batter at the popping crease, eliminating the subjective aspect from the decision-making process when deciding on no-balls above the waist. The batter’s toe-to-waist height when standing is then compared to that, which has been measured and noted beforehand. It is ruled a no-ball if the height of the ball exceeds the batter’s waist measurement. It’s a fair delivery otherwise.
In this instance, if Kohli had been standing straight on his crease, the ball’s predicted trajectory would have taken it 0.12 meters below his waist.
Following the match, RCB captain du Plessis remarked, “Obviously, the rules are the rules.” “At that point, Virat and I speculated that the ball might have been higher than his waist. They measure it, I suppose, on the popping crease.
There will always be one team under certain circumstances that is content and one team that doesn’t think the choice was the best one. However, that is the nature of the game.”
