As 19 runs came off Umesh Yadav’s first over, the Bidhan Sarani-Vivekananda Road neighbourhood in North Kolkata suddenly seemed eerily silent. Till a few minutes earlier, I could hear overlapping music from a nearby club as Kolkata Knight Riders managed a very good finish to touch 200 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. As the Bangalore openers, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, were scripting a fightback, there was a strange stillness to the night.
Enter Suyash Sharma. Just 19, and pitted against two of the best in Kohli and du Plessis. He has been a hero for Kolkata this season and, alongside Rinku Singh and Venky Iyer with the bat, is the only one to have stood up to the challenge. Suyash tossed it up and du Plessis, somewhat by instinct, went for the big shot. He did get the elevation, but not the distance. Caught on the boundary line, and KKR had drawn first blood. The man in form was dismissed, and the match was open.
Two different things happened within seconds of the catch being taken. Conch shells pierced the still air, and it was as if the club near my house had all of a sudden come alive. Second, the music started to play again and the tea-stall owner next door opened his shop at 10pm hoping to serve the cricket adda crowd.
Thereafter KKR managed to pick up wickets at regular intervals and, much against the odds, managed to win a very important game in the competition. With 3 wins from 8 games, it is still an underwhelming campaign. But a campaign that is still alive. And KKR will look back to 2021, and want to believe that they can still salvage things from here.
Rajasthan Look to Bounce Back Against Confident Chennai
The KKR campaign in 2021 had many life lessons. First, it taught us how it’s never say never in sport. Coinciding with the second Covid wave, KKR’s campaign was all doom and gloom in April and May. But come September, they were a changed team with a very different mindset. Things do get better after all. Second, it is about self-belief and how it rubs off on the people around you. The introduction of Venky Iyer made Shubman Gill and Rahul Tripathi very different players with far less pressure on them. Even without Andre Russell, KKR never lacked the self-belief associated with champion teams.
Looking back at 2021, KKR will know that the journey isn’t over yet. Chennai are still there, standing tall. Gujarat are playing like the defending champions. And Lucknow and Rajasthan have both looked good in patches. But with this win, KKR can see a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. They will know that things do change, and that’s the only constant in sport.
Yes, they will need Russell to fire with the bat. They will need their opening bowlers to do better than conceding 30 off two overs. They need more consistency from the middle order, and Sunil Narine to pick up a few more wickets. The list of wants is fairly lengthy, but none of this is impossible. If 2021 could happen, 2023 can as well.
What this win will do is get the fans back in purple at the Eden Gardens. Against Chennai, it was a sea of yellow, and one could sense a tinge of disillusionment creeping in. Poor results and the lack of a local connect were starting to hurt KKR. This victory is a temporary balm, which gives the team a final opportunity to get their act together.