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Kolkata Knight Riders were 62/2 in the eighth over at one stage and looking in cruise control of the chase, but Yuzvendra Chahal had different plans.
Ajinkya Rahane’s mistaken shot and a missed DRS chance led to his team’s unravelling (Picture credit: AP)
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane has said that he was very disappointed with the batting effort of his team while admitting that he played a wrong shot and not taking a DRS made matters worse, as they slumped to an embarrassing 16-run defeat while chasing a paltry 112.
Kolkata crumbled in the 112-run chase as their former captain Shreyas Iyer‘s team defended the lowest total in IPL history.
Rahane admitted that his batters didn’t take responsibility in the chase and are responsible for what happened during the chase after the Harshit Rana-led bowling attack did a brilliant job.
“Nothing to explain; we all saw what happened there. Pretty disappointed with the effort. I’ll take the blame; I played the wrong shot, although it (the ball) was missing,” Rahane said while speaking at the post-match presentation.
“We batted badly as a batting unit, we take full responsibility. Bowlers did well on this surface, restricting a strong Punjab batting lineup to 111,” Rahane added.
The Kolkata skipper got out while trying to play a sweep shot, which hit his back leg. The umpire signalled out, and Rahane walked off, only for the replays to show that it was pitching outside the off stump.
“When I (will) go upstairs, (I will) need to keep myself calm and then think about what to say to the boys. (We) still have to be positive (as) half of the tournament is still remaining,” Rahane said.
Punjab defended the lowest-ever total in Indian Premier League history as they defeated Kolkata.
Chasing 112 for a victory over Punjab, Kolkata were placed at 71/3 in the 10th over, but they suffered an unbelievable collapse to be bowled out for just 95 in the 16th over, leaving fans and experts surprised.
Kolkata lost seven wickets and scored only 24 runs in six overs after that. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was the main architect of Punjab’s improbable-looking victory over Kolkata with his brilliant figures of 4/28.
Chahal took the important wickets of Rahane (17), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (37), Rinku Singh (2) and Ramandeep Singh (0) to orchestrate Kolkata’s unbelievable downfall- the last two in successive deliveries in the 12th over.
KKR play their next game against the Gujarat Titans on April 21 at home.
