Quinton de Kock took the lead from the very beginning accelerating the momentum from phase to phase in the innings and leading to a crescendoing climax in the 19th and the 20th over. In the 19th over he hit four huge sixes off Tim Southee and four consecutive fours in the 20th over off Andrew Russel. Normally, when the opening partnership goes on and on the momentum invariably decreases as the batsmen get tired and any new batsman coming in at the fall of a wicket cannot immediately pick up and accelerate; but not this time, in this unforgettable partnership where the scoring rate went on gaining more and more momentum with Quinton hitting and Rahul providing solid anchoring.
With nothing to lose Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) gave a terrific chase, never giving up despite early jolts. Quinton, following his incredible innings in batting, took a brilliant diving catch in the very first over to dismiss Venkatesh Iyer off the bowling of Mohsin Khan who delivered another severe blow by taking the scalp of Abhijit Tomar in his second over to reduce KKR to 9/2. Then there followed quickfire cameos by Nitish Rana, captain Shreyas Iyer and Sam Billings. Finally, there was a spirited last-ditch effort by Rinku Singh and Sunil Narine made it 21 in the last over.
And Rinku (40 in 15 balls) made it 5 off 3 balls, and in the fifth ball of that last over a brilliant one-handed catch by Lewis ended his incredible efforts. Needing 3 in 1 ball KKR failed to achieve the target by just 2 runs, thus bowing out of the IPL-2022. But not after taking the match down the wire. Andrew Russel a huge disappointment again in both bowling and batting while LSG never relaxed and fielded magnificently. In fact, despite this veritable thriller, one of the best IPL matches ever, Kolkata never deserved to be in the play-offs, their early promise breaking into smithereens thanks to inconsistent and fragile performances by their supposed celebrity players, sloppy fielding and an utter lack of team work. It’s a real dampener for the spirited crowds of Kolkata as the first two play-off matches are going to be held there.
Now LSG officially enters the play-off stage joining the Gujarat Titans (GT), both of them being newbies which can also be a record in IPL history. LSG’s entry into the play-off has been a foregone conclusion after it became evident that except for either Bangalore or Delhi no other team could reach 16 points.
However, we’ll keep on following the proceedings in the remaining four league matches of the IPL-2022, still very closely.
