IPL 2021: Match 21, PBKS vs KKR – Who Said What

The 21^st match of the Indian Premier League 2021 saw Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders lock horns with each other. Both the teams looked hungry for a victory but it was KKR’s day in the end as they bagged the game by five wickets. Winning the toss, Eoin Morgan and the company invited PBKS to show up with willows first. KL Rahul’s men could only post meagre 123 on the board.

Morgan was declared as the player of the match for stabilizing the KKR innings with his crucial knock. Owing to a below-average batting show, PBKS couldn’t even breach the 130-run mark on the board. Mayank Agarwal bought in 31 runs for the team and an essential and quick 30 were contributed by Chris Jordan towards the end. Talking of the bowling department of KKR, Sunil Narine kept a tight check on the runs as he maintained an economy of 5.50. Prasidh Krishna got in three wickets for his team

Morgan keeps KKR up in the chase

Chasing the target, KKR didn’t look too comfortable at the start as they stumbled on 17/3. However, the game ahead was managed too well by skipper Morgan (47 off 40) and Rahul Tripathi (41 off 32). Mohammed Shami and Ravi Bishnoi led the pace and spin section well enough for PBKS by keeping a tight check on runs. However, a small target couldn’t help them bagging the game on their side.

Losing skipper, KL Rahul said:

It is never nice to be on the losing side. Don’t know what to say. We should have adapted better. We could have applied lot more with the bat. Expect the boys to be smarter. Some soft dismissals have cost us the game. It was a bit two paced. Kept a little up down. Was tough to assess what are the high risk shots here. It is expected of good teams to adapt quicker. We need to keep our heads higher and keep trying. Bishnoi’s catch was stunning. Especially when you have a coach like Jonty Rhodes, he puts us to tough tests and sees how every boy reacts. The training rubs on during match situations. Hopefully we can keep building and get better.

Winning skipper and player of the match, Eoin Morgan said:

Wins haven’t been easy to come by. Have worked incredibly hard. Today, along with a bit of luck, the performance was very impressive particularly with the ball upfront. When the wicket’s like that – from the 12th over of our innings, the ball was sliding on. Only his second game this season (Mavi). The match-up against Gayle was favourable. He bowled well in the last game and started well here. For him to make an impact is huge credit to him. The advantage we have over most spinners is that Our spinners are variation bowlers. THey don’t rely on drift and turn. They control their lengths well and rely on a tiny amount of turn and today they were exceptional. Lot of time to go in the tournament. Hopefully today can kickstart something for us. Certainly think it’s challenging and it does have to be managed for players, coaching staff. When you consider the horrific nature of what’s happening outside the bubble, we try and lend our support and encouragement for everything that’s going on not only in India but around the world. If you’re going out stay safe, wear a mask, social distance. We’ve seen first hand at home how devastating it can be. On behalf of KKR we wish everyone well.