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.
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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.
Watch the final over here;
Q2: KKR vs DC – Shakib Al Hasan Wicket https://t.co/p1pHFtC8Dd
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Q2: KKR vs DC – Sunil Narine Wicket https://t.co/AupDOcmXQq
— Cricket Videos (@CricketVideos15) October 13, 2021
Q2: KKR vs DC – Rahul Tripathi Six https://t.co/B8TfwLIpBN
— Cricket Videos (@CricketVideos15) October 13, 2021
Ravichandran Ashwin came out to bowl and had an uphill task in front of Rahul Tripathi and Shakib Al Hasan. Tripathi scored a single on the first ball. Shakib tried to slog the second ball but played all over it and couldn’t manage his bat on the ball. Ashwin trapped Shakib on the third ball and got out. Sunil Narine came to bat and tried to smash six on his first ball but couldn’t clear the boundary as Axar Patel grabbed a regulation catch.
At this moment, the odds were with DC as KKR need to score six runs off two balls. Rahul Tripathi had crossed the crease and faced the hat-trick ball. Ashwin bowled halfway down the pitch and Tripathi kept his cool and smashed a six over long-off to win the game for KKR with three wickets in hand.
KKR and CSK will lock horns in the final of the IPL 2021.
