Two-time trophy holders Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have been performing way below the expectation in the last couple of matches of the ongoing 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). On Wednesday, the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise faced a crushing defeat against the Mumbai Indians (MI) as they surrendered themselves at home.
KKR lost last night’s loss by a huge margin of 102 runs resulted in their decline in the points table as they no longer standing at the 4th position. On the other hand, MI who once again had a slow start to the season has finally got their momentum back. Coming on the back of two comprehensive wins, the once bottom-placed MI has now broken into the playoff position.
ALSO READ: KKR vs MI – Reasons for loss
Following KKR’s dismal performance, Shah Rukh Khan took to his Twitter and apologized to the fans on behalf of the franchise and the team. A gentleman that he is, the Bollywood icon wrote, “Sports is about the spirit & wins/losses don’t reflect that. But tonite as the ‘Boss’ I need to apologize to the fans for the lack of spirit”
Sports is about the spirit & wins/losses don’t reflect that. But tonite as the ‘Boss’ I need to apologise to the fans for the lack of spirit
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) May 9, 2018
Mumbai Indians produced a brilliant all-round performance after Ishan Kishan’s attacking batting display outclassed the hosts by a huge margin of 102 runs to keep themselves in the hunt for qualifying into the playoffs. Ishan’s 21-ball 62 helped MI to reach a huge total of 210/6 and in the process, he entered the record books for scoring the joint second fastest fifty, off just 17 deliveries of IPL 2018.
While coming into chase the target of 211, Kolkata never looked in the running as lost both of their openers, Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn, cheaply. KKR kept losing wickets at regular intervals as the asking rate climbed rapidly with every over bowled. The final nail in the coffin was put by Krunal Pandya as he picked the final wickets of Tom Curran and Kuldeep Yadav.