LSG vs KKR: "No right to win..." - KKR's historic Wankhede victory draws intriguing reaction from Shane Watson

Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has opined that the Kolkata Knight Riders had no right to win their match against Mumbai Indians last night. 

It was the Knight Riders' first win against Mumbai at the iconic Wankhede stadium in over 10 years. The visitors might have got off to a shaky start but they were able to control the course of the game in the later stages. With that win, KKR got 2 points and they closed the gap with Rajasthan Royals, who sit at the top with 16 points. 

What intrigued Shane Watson to claim that KKR had no right to win against MI? 

While speaking to Jio Cinema after Kolkata picked up a 24-run victory over Mumbai, 2008 and 2018 IPL winner Shane Watson had unique thoughts. He claimed that the visitors, after losing 5 wickets in the powerplay of 1st innings, had a very bleak chance to come out on top against the 5-time champions. 

In a sarcastic way, Shane Watson said that KKR had no right to win the match in that situation. It was definitely a unique way to take a dig at the Mumbai Indians and their captain Hardik Pandya. 

Most of the expert pundits have directly blamed Pandya for the loss. That he wasn't able to capitalize on KKR's tragic fall of 5 wickets, was a huge mistake by the all-rounder. 

Shane Watson could not blame him directly so he chose to say that, "KKR had no right to win that game tonight after the position they were in five wickets down." 

The former CSK, RCB, and RR all-rounder would then hail the Gautam Gambhir-mentored unit for showcasing nerves of steel. That KKR were able to recover from the initial slump, shows how strong the team is mentally. 

Shane Watson then made sure to say something about Hardik Pandya's captaincy as well but without naming him. He gave the credit to KKR's victory to Pandya for allowing Naman Dhir to bowl 3 overs instead of bringing in an experienced entity. He labeled that decision as baffling and claimed that it gave the Knight Riders an upper hand. 

"It just shows the fight that they have and also just some of the things that happened. Some of the decisions that were made whether that was bowling changes or batting lineup deployment, some of those decisions were very baffling just to really give KKR the upper hand in a game that was just on a knife’s edge at certain times," Shane Watson concluded. 

KKR to aim for a top-spot finish from their remaining games

The 2-time champions have well and truly expressed their wish to claim a 3rd IPL title this season with last night's win over MI. But before they think about the play-offs, the East Indian outfit will be aiming to finish on top of the points table from their remaining games.

Tomorrow they'll play Lucknow Super Giants, whom they have beaten during the previous fixture. KKR will then host Mumbai for yesterday's reverse fixture on 11th May which will be their final game at the Eden Gardens in IPL 2024. 

Their last two games are against Gujarat Titans on May 13th in Ahmedabad and they'll close off the league stages against table toppers Rajasthan in Jaipur on 19th May. 4 wins on the trot will see them touch the 22-point mark and a win over Rajasthan will give them a golden opportunity to finish IPL 2024 league stages atop of points table.