Mitchell Starc was about to bowl the final over, long after the sun had fallen, the cows had gone home, and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru had ruined what appeared to be a straightforward run chase. Only the final three hitters were available to provide RCB with the unexpected conclusion they needed—21 runs.
In the four overs before that, Kolkata Knight Riders had effectively killed the chase by conceding just 28 runs against the best death over batter of the season, Dinesh Karthik, by going for the slower balls and forcing the batters to hit to the straight long boundaries.
Starc, though, had other ideas. He supported his quick inswinging yorkers, the trademarked yorker that, when executed well, is among the most devastating deliveries in all of cricket. However, it wasn’t going to be against 36-year-old Karn Sharma. With three of the four deliveries going for sixes over deep backward point, the RCB No. 9 completely changed the game, requiring just three runs off of two balls to stop the team’s five-match losing streak.
Which game was it to lose, and whose was to win?
In a match that fluctuated as much as it did at the Eden Gardens on Sunday, the microscope’s training point ultimately determines the outcome. The odds had shifted in favour of RCB if, at that precise time, an emotional Mohammed Siraj was encouraging Karn to make the penultimate delivery while he was about to take a strike.
It was KKR’s game to lose and they were well on their way to that if there had been four balls before then, or even just one. The game had gone much beyond what the hosts would have preferred, but Starc stuck to his strategy and ultimately helped KKR win the match by a single run.
With two of RCB’s most efficient run scorers back in the dugout for the 223-run chase, KKR should have been favorites even in the fourth over.
Will Jacks, though, had other ideas.
Jacks disregarded warnings to avoid forcing batters to attempt hits in areas where they would have to muscle shots in the range of 72 to 78 meters straight down the ground in order to get the ball over the line, even though the majority of the game was spent trying to block the shorter 58-meter boundary on the square. He adopted the side of the line that his swinging arc preferred. His sixes extending out beyond the bounds of the earth.
He took Starc for a ride in the final over of the powerplay, flicking over deep square leg, tugging over deep mid wicket, and lofting over far off, in one of his most vicious attacks. He had nothing to hide from anyone. He even had some degree of success going up against Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, and Harshit Rana.
By doing this, Jacks may have allayed two of RCB’s concerns: the performance of their foreign recruits and the No. 3 this season. Rajat Patidar, who had been watching him blow up the place from the opposite end for the duration of the powerplay, followed suit. The recently-capped Indian star Patidar was having a lackluster IPL season this year as well, and his inconsistent play was a concern in RCB’s sluggish middle order.
He made a move against Suyash Sharma. In the tenth over, he brought down the leggie for 22 runs after lofting him over long off for a six earlier. Maintaining his confidence, he even hit a couple of sixes against Narine, who had only given up nine runs in his opening two overs.
With RCB 137 for 2, it was their game to lose if you had your lens at that stage in the chase. With eight wickets in hand and 86 runs needed in 54 balls on a flat track, two middle-order hitters have taken down every bowler for KKR thus far with their blistering fifties.
They did indeed lose. strikingly.
Andre Russell, the sixth bowling option for the Kolkata Knight Riders, was introduced into the attack after it became apparent that the planned duration of operation—roughly—to push the batters to attack the straight boundaries was not yielding enough results. Instead of helping Jacks continue his run-fest, his first ball was flat-batted to the long on fielder in the slot. After three deliveries, a slower one managed to catch Patidar’s bat’s leading edge and was safely pouched at backward point.
Even with the departure of the two set batters, RCB was still winning the match. In the last over of Narine’s innings, Cameron Green chose to bat even though the needed rate was well under control. With some skill, he was able to slogsweep the spinner for a six over the long, deep mid-wicket boundary. But he was stopped at the border trying to replicate that.
To make sure there is no more hiccup in the chase, RCB sent in Mahipal Lomror and Suyash Prabhudessai rather than Dinesh Karthik. Lomror was almost caught by a leading edge at a rearward point. Nevertheless, he made it through as the ball raced to the boundary and left the following delivery, giving the bowler a lead edge on a slog that was caught.
With four wickets in 12 balls, KKR had quickly regained the upper hand. Up until then, Russell and Narine had been having one of their rare off days at the bat. The hard-hitting pair combined to play 35 deliveries while only managing 37 runs in the powerplay and death overs. But with the ball, they more than made up for it.
In the midst was Karthik, who was suddenly in charge of a run chase that became far more intricate than it might have been after a few deliveries. Prabhudessai, who was playing for the first time this season, went with him along with a couple other tailenders. Despite losing four wickets in the first two overs, they continued to hit boundaries, scoring 18 runs in those two overs and another 19 in the next two overs.
The necessary rate remained below 10 with five overs left. Quite doable on a pitch where there was little margin for error because the measurements guaranteed a consistent line and operating lengths. But the hitters went after the large boundaries rather than tucking the ball around and searching for fast doubles in open areas. That was an ineffective attempt against Rana’s slower ones. The singles and dots mounted at the necessary rate as the borders dried up. In the end, Rana gave up just 13 runs in his two overs, and despite Prabhudessai’s best efforts to hit him for a six, he was eventually caught early on.
After that, Karthik attempted to contain most of the strike, but in the final ball of the penultimate over, Russell got a leading edge to the fielder positioned there, making an effort to scoop him over the short fine leg unsuccessful.
Karn’s last-over heroics had them unexpectedly near to the target, but Starc held on to his power and helped KKR win by just one run. Even though KKR’s last-ball finish helped them climb to the second position in the points table, RCB’s campaign isn’t suffering from their seventh defeat in eight games.
Even though RCB was supposed to lose, captain Faf du Plessis isn’t whining any more. He’s accepted the good things in life. Following the defeat, he remarked, “The partnership (between Jacks and Patidar), it was magnificent.” “However, a panic attack takes hold when you don’t win a lot of games, and the Narine over was revolutionary. The game doesn’t give you the impression that you have enough time to relax and bat. Of course, you have an extra batter, but these kinds of chases need perseverance. I believed that the matchup versus Narine would be the game-changing encounter. the minor details.
“The way we bowled and fielded tonight actually makes me pleased of the boys. We did give up a few huge overs towards the end, but overall, I think we limited them to a par score. We believed that we would attack during the batting powerplay and locate those boundaries early in the innings. We had run out of time. From an effort standpoint, we received a 10/10; our faces demonstrated our level of effort on the ground. We want to make our incredible fan base happy and smile, as they are our biggest supporters. We’ll need to keep working hard and make an attempt to turn things around.”
Even while both teams put on a great show, they would be fully aware that there were a number of holes that needed to be fixed. In fact, the winning team might have been more concerned about these issues than the losing one.
