We have all seen sport long enough to know that strange things happen. But then, what happened on Tuesday night was more than strange. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), from nowhere, just blew the chase. Over confidence? Cockiness? Bad batting? Or a combination of it all? And no, the pitch wasn’t to blame either.
Chasing 112, KKR needed a partnership to get them close. Interestingly, they did get one when Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi were batting. The chase was a canter, and it all seemed routine. That’s when calamity struck. Atrocious shots and complete irresponsibility meant that Punjab Kings (PBKS) had, all of a sudden, picked up five wickets for seven runs.
Some of the shots just can’t be explained. Rinku Singh’s was one such. He is hugely talented and an India team star. All he needed to do was show game awareness. Yuzvendra Chahal was bowling well and had picked up a couple already. Rinku just needed to play him out, for there were enough overs to use thereafter. Also, he had Andre Russell at the other end. Instead, he jumped out to chase a loopy ball and was stumped. Exactly the shot that shouldn’t have been played. It kind of summed up KKR’s night.
But then, more pain was to come the KKR fans’ way. First ball and Ramandeep Singh tried a cheeky dab-sweep. Why, only he will know. Shreyas Iyer had brought the field close in and anticipated superbly. He literally sprinted the moment the ball left the bowler’s hand, for he knew that Ramandeep would try the dab. He did, and it was curtains.
While watching, you had to pinch yourself. Was it really happening, and are KKR this bad? Was it just one of those days, and did it have to come on Bengali New Year’s Day?
Whichever way you want to see it, the truth is that KKR were inexplicably bad. A simple enough run chase was turned into a real nightmare, and the end result will take a long time to digest for every KKR fan.
Rahane’s dismissal perfectly summed up KKR’s plight. In total control, why would he not review when he almost always plants his foot outside the line of the stumps while sweeping? But then, we are asking logical questions and trying to find logical answers. It was a night that had very little or no logic to it. All KKR need to do is think that it can’t get any worse. This could be the IPL’s Adelaide-20202 moment for Rahane, and it can only get better from here on.
From 62/2 to 95 all out—KKR implode as PBKS pull off the lowest successful defence in IPL history.@KKRiders @PunjabKingsIPL #PBKSvKKR #IPL2025
✍️ @TrishaGhosal https://t.co/Qw9QyFksUs
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) April 15, 2025