Kolkata Knight Riders ended up on the losing side in a thrilling contest against Rajasthan Royals at Brabourne Stadium on Monday. The head coach Brendon McCullum criticised his players for not holding their nerves in pressure situations as they lost the game by seven runs.
Chasing a mammoth target of 218, Aaron Finch and Shreyas Iyer had put KKR in a position where they needed 40 runs off the last four overs with six wickets in hand. Yuzvendra Chahal snared four wickets in the 17th overs, including a hat-trick to turn the game on its head as KKR batters tried to take on the leg-spinner.
Speaking after the game, McCullum stated that his batters committed some silly mistakes in that over, costing them the match.
“With four overs to go, we were in the driver’s seat but then some silly mistakes and not being able to handle pressure as well as we should have cost us the game,”
he said.
Tactically, KKR were spot on to push down Pat Cummins, who is vulnerable against leg-spin. The likes of Sheldon Jackson and Shivam Mavi were sent ahead of him. Mavi came in to bat with two balls remaining of Chahal’s over but he was dismissed on the first ball attempting a big hoick. That exposed Cummins to the leg-spinner and fell victim to the hat-trick.
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“We were trying to hold Pat Cummins for the seamers. Chahal has had a number on him on a number of occasions. Mavi’s role was to get through that. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to execute what we were meant to do there and we made a mistake,”
McCullum added.
After a promising start to their IPL 2022 season, KKR have now lost three consecutive games and have slipped to sixth position with six points from seven matches. They will next take on the table-toppers Gujarat Titans at DY Patil Stadium on April 23.
The Royals, on the other hand, have jumped to second spot with eight points from six games. They will next face Delhi Capitals at MCA Stadium in Pune on April 22.
