Despite the heartbreaking seven-run loss against Rajasthan Royals on Monday at the Brabourne stadium, Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan put out a tweet for the side. In his tweet, he congratulated Shreyas Iyer, Aaron Finch, Umesh Yadav, and Sunil Narine. He also had a special mention for KKR coach Brendon McCullum, who had hit a century 15 years ago for Knights. Shah Rukh said even if KKR has to lose, this is the way it should happen.
"Well played boys. Stupendous effort by @ShreyasIyer15 @AaronFinch5 @y_umesh congrats to #SunilNarine for the 150th match & @Bazmccullum for that innings 15 yrs ago. I know we lost but if we have to go down this is the only way to do it! Keep ur chins up...." tweeted SRK after the match.
As an owner, Shah Rukh has always backed his players. He is often seen at IPL venues as well. This message from SRK should wipe out all the negativity that may be there in the dressing room after four consecutive losses.
The Knights, however, tried their best to make a match of it even after the hammering their bowlers, barring Sunil Narine (2/21) in his 150th appearance for them, got from Buttler early on. Opener Aaron Finch (58 off 28 balls), making amends after going for a non-existent run that ran Narine (promoted at the top of the order) out in the first ball of KKR’s run chase, and captain Shreyas Iyer (85 off 51 balls) took full advantage of some very mediocre bowling by the Royals and equally ordinary field-placement by their skipper Sanju Samson.
The Royals skipper, in fact, had almost dropped the game when he spilled an easy take after his counterpart Shreyas had mis-hit one down the leg side in the 15th over off McCoy.
Shreyas continued batting brilliantly, making the Royals pay for their captain’s botch-up, till Chahal bowled that magical over. With 40 required off the last four overs, the leg-spinner first had Venkatesh Iyer stumped. Then he foxed the dangerous-looking Shreyas by varying the flight, had Shivam Mavi hole out at the deep and then extracted just a little bit of turn to send Pat Cummins back to record a remarkable hat-trick.
Umesh Yadav, after a poor show with the ball, unleashed some meaty blows to keep KKR’s hopes alive. However, McCoy (2/41) held his nerve in the final over, helping the Royals bowl out KKR for 210 in 19.4 overs. The left-arm pacer ensured that the brilliance of Buttler and Chahal didn’t go in vain.
Credit, though, should also go to Ravichandran Ashwin, who executed the carrom ball to perfection that cleaned up Andre Russell off the first ball he faced.
KKR's next match will be against Gujarat Titans on April 23.
