IPL 2021: Eoin Morgan pleased with Kolkata Knight Riders’ demolition job, almost securing Playoffs berth

Eoin Morgan said Bangladesh star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has lived up to the team’s expectation with his stellar performance, having replaced injured Andre Russell in the last two matches of the UAE leg.

Eoin Morgan leads the Kolkata Knight Riders after massive win over Rajasthan Royals in Sharjah. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan said they did everything right on the field on Thursday and deserved to end up on the winning side against Rajasthan Royals, virtually assuring their IPL 2021 playoff berth. KKR produced a clinical performance to beat RR by a massive 86-run margin and virtually assure their place play-off berth.

“I don’t think it could have got better. Losing the toss and batting was difficult. The start we got was fantastic. (Shubman) Gill and (Venkatesh) Iyer have been our shining light. To get 170 we thought was in a commanding position. A really strong performance today,” Morgan said after the match.

“Having aggressive players coming in in the middle order helped us kick...I am not too attached to things as to what will happen and what won’t happen... We have done everything tonight. We deserved to win...”

Morgan said Bangladesh star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has lived up to the team’s expectation with his stellar performance, having replaced injured Andre Russell in the last two matches of the UAE leg. “He has contributed massively. We are taking it day by day (with Russell), so he’s working incredibly hard. Fingers crossed.”

Checking our after the 86-run win #KKRvRR #KKR #AmiKKR #KorboLorboJeetbo #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/pL9bqk98uk

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) October 7, 2021

RR skipper Sanju Samson said missing English trio of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer in the second phase cost the team’s prospects dearly. “Those were the challenges (losing Stokes, Buttler and Archer)... Being the captain, I changed the way I look at my innings. I look at the conditions and the batsmen around me. Always thinking about the match situation... That got me a bit more runs,” he siad.

Samson said 172 was easily chaseable on this wicket but they failed in execution. “...171 was easy chaseable on this wicket with the batting line-up we have. We wanted to execute whatever we planned, but we didn’t do it today,” he said.

“(But) I am very proud of the character we showed. We were losing some easy games. We wanted to do well mindset wise. We need to play a better standard of cricket.”

(with PTI inputs)