Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders are locking horns in qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League 2021 in Sharjah. The winner of this game will go through to the final where Chennai Super Kings will be waiting for them.
Eoin Morgan won the toss and opted to bowl first. He named an unchanged playing XI. Rishabh Pant mentioned Marcus Stoinis comes in place of Tom Curran.
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Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan got Delhi Capitals off to a good start. Shaw smashed Shakib Al Hasan for a six and a four as he expressed his intentions straight away. Dhawan also smashed Sunil Narine for consecutive sixes and took DC off to a flier. However, Varun Chakaravarthy dismissed Shaw with his first ball of the spell.
Marcus Stoinis came out to bat at number 3. He and Dhawan stitched a 39-run partnership but they were slow. Shivam Mavi removed Stoinis for 23-ball 18 before Dhawan got out to Chakaravarthy for 39-ball 36. Rishabh Pant came out and got out in no time.
Shreyas Iyer and Shimron Hetmyer tried to give DC a boost towards the death overs. Both players hit crucial boundaries towards the end to stretch DC’s total to 135/5 in 20 overs.
In response, Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer took KKR off to a flying start. The duo scored 51 runs inside the powerplay and didn’t allow any DC bowler to set. Iyer played aggressively and notched up his third fifty of this season. He got out after scoring 55 runs in 41 balls, which featured four fours and three sixes. By then, KKR had scored 96 runs and DC were staring at a certain defeat.
Then came the drama. KKR exploded from 123/1 to 130/7 in no time. Shubman Gill got out to Avesh Khan after scoring run-a-ball 46. Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada tighten the screw on DC as Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan got out for nought. KKR needed seven runs off six balls.
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Ravichandran Ashwin came out to bowl and dismissed Shakib Al Hasan and Sunil Narine off successive balls and all of sudden it was KKR who were staring at a certain defeat. With six runs needed in two balls, Rahul Tripathi kept his calm and smoked Ashwin for a six over long-off and set a date for KKR with CSK in the final of IPL 2021.
See how Twitter reacted to this game;
Iyer, Gill, Mavi, Tripathi, Chakravarthy….inexperienced Indian talent doing it for #KKR
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 13, 2021
Shubho Ashtami @KKRiders !
— Gautam Bhimani (@gbhimani) October 13, 2021
Cricket is a game full of surprises.
This match was one of the best I watched.
Solid fight back by #DC
And Congratulations #KKR
Awaiting the final.#CSK vs #KKR #IPL2021— Dimuth Karunarathna (@IamDimuth) October 13, 2021
I don’t like cricket ! I love it 😍!! What a game !!! #DCvsKKR congratulations @kkr for making it to the finals I feel for @RishabhPant17 and his boys . But that’s sport people ! there can be only one winner !!!
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) October 13, 2021
That was intense…brilliant win @KKRiders 1 more to go!! #KorboLorboJeetbo
— Pat Cummins (@patcummins30) October 13, 2021
#KKR’s surge into the final, winning 7 of their last 9 matches, makes for the most remarkable story of ##IPL2021. For the second season in succession, both #RCB and #DC found wanting towards the end. Onwards to the final between two former champions. Promises to be a humdinger
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 13, 2021
Heartbreak for Delhi but feel the deserving team goes through… Repeating 2014 in an even more dramatic fashion. This is an #IPL comeback for the ages. And a bunch of young Indians leading the charge .. well done @KKRiders #KKRvDC
— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) October 13, 2021
Time to party with @tripathirahul52 and the @KKRiders . Well done @Bazmccullum . 🙌🏻 Finals cricket! pic.twitter.com/i3zS3rIa6k
— Grant Elliott (@grantelliottnz) October 13, 2021
That was the most incredible 4 over turnaround. Kolkata almost outdoing Punjab, but Tripathi saving it. Great game. #DCvsKKR
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 13, 2021
What a game! Rahul Tripathi naam to sunte rahoge #kkr
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) October 13, 2021
OMG 😱 I am so glad that I woke up for that last 20 minutes of the match!! @KKRiders into the finals after they stutter and limp to the finish line. One of the great comeback in the #IPL2021 have been the tram in purple!!
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) October 13, 2021
Ash gets #DC out of the Ashes….. #DCvsKKR
— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) October 13, 2021
