Eoin Morgan Hails The Kolkata Knight Riders' Lower-Order Efforts; Unhappy With The Batting Performance In The First Five Overs

Eoin Morgan and co. went down to the Chennai Super Kings as a target of 221 proved a bridge too far for them. After losing the toss, Chennai Super Kings dominated Kolkata Knight Riders‘ bowlers, with Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf Du Plessis laying a solid foundation. But they had to survive breathtaking onslaughts from Andre Russell and Pat Cummins to win by 19 runs. Eoin Morgan, whose poor form with the bat continued,

Kolkata Knight Riders did not get a breakthrough until the 13th over, with Ruturaj Gaikwad holing out to Pat Cummins at mid-wicket for 64. But Moeen Ali and Faf Du Plessis continued piling the runs before the latter perished for 25 runs off 12 deliveries. MS Dhoni came ahead of Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja and smacked 17 off 7 balls before Eoin Morgan ended his stay with a diving catch. But Kolkata’s fielding performance was a substandard one, as they dropped catches and conceded runs off misfields.

Kolkata Knight Riders endured a nightmare start to their steep run-chase as Deepak Chahar bounced out the first four out of five batters for single digits. But Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik did not hang around, as they kept things moving by making the power-hits coming, adding 81 in 39 balls. Sam Curran ended Russell’s pyrotechnics at 54 by disturbing his leg-stump, supposedly shattering Kolkata’s hopes.

Nevertheless, Pat Cummins stepped up to raise the Knight Riders’ hopes by playing a blinder of a knock. The Australian speedster dished out four sixes off the 16th over bowled by Sam Curran as the two-time champions stormed back into contention. But with 20 needed off the final over, the last batsman Prasidh Krishna was run out, making Russell’s and Cummin’s efforts go in vain.

The first five overs of batting didn’t go our way: Eoin Morgan

Eoin Morgan underlined that the pulse is mighty high after the cliffhanger, praising Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, and Pat Cummins for putting one hell of a fight. The Irishman lamented the first five overs for not going their way and refused to blame their bowlers as he felt that the management should back them. Eoin Morgan sarcastically stated that one needs to be away from Russell after he gets out, but was delighted to find him in such form and felt disappointed that others could not help him.

“It’s quite high at the moment [how’s the pulse]. One hell of a game. Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik put a partnership together and following that Pat Cummins gave us every chance towards the end. Tremendous fight from the middle and lower order. You ride the emotions throughout the day. The first five overs of batting didn’t go our way. We didn’t play as well as we would’ve liked. We can be happy with…new ground, different challenges. Going back to it, I don’t think there was any margin for error for the bowlers. We need to be kinder to the bowlers. You really need to be on the money. I tend to stay away from Dre after he gets out [laughs]. It’s great he’s in this sort of form. Disappointing that the rest of us couldn’t help him out,” Eoin Morgan told in the post-match presentation.

Also Read: Watch: Sam Curran Shatters KKR’s Hopes; Stuns Andre Russell By Disturbing His Leg Stump