Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner Sunil Narine had a night out in Sharjah on Monday in the Eliminator of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with both bat and ball against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as they will now face the Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2.
Virat Kohli's time as RCB skipper came to a heartbreaking end as his bowlers stretched the game to the final over, overcoming a fabulous opening partnership between Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer, overcoming a Sunil Narine burst of 26 runs in just 15 balls when he smashed three sixes in just one over by Dan Christian but it wasn't to be.
It was just one man's night, who could do no wrong on the day. Whenever he picked up the ball, he took a wicket. Narine took one wicket in each of his four overs and he removed the likes of KS Bharat, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers. It has to be some night when you are sending back four batters in a knockout match.
138 wasn't going to be enough but RCB's Indian bowlers made merry. Mohammed Siraj, Harshal 'Purple' Patel, who equalled Dwayne Bravo's tally of 32 wickets and Yuzevndra Chahal picked two wickets each going less than five runs an over but when you are defending a low score you can't afford big overs and RCB had two.
One by George Garton in the powerplay, where Shubman Gill took him on for three boundaries and the one Christian over which just changed the game as apart from three sixes by Narine, who came in at No 5, it was also three wides and extra runs that just released any pressure that was on the KKR batters.
Siraj did make the game exciting by dismissing Narine and Dinesh Karthik in the same over but 12 runs needed off 12 balls with skipper Eoin Morgan and Shakib in the middle was going to be a formality and the two calm heads did it for the men in purple.
KKR, who have been bossing Sharjah will confident as they take on Delhi Capitals, coming off from two close losses at the same venue on Wednesday.
