Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) led by Eoin Morgan had a night to forget in Sharjah as Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) stunned them by 8 wickets riding on brilliant half-centuries from Mandeep Singh and Chris Gayle in the 46th game of the ongoing IPL 2020 on Monday (October 26).
Kings XI Punjab gunned down the target of 150 with more than an over to spare. The 33-year old Irishman lamented the partnership between him and Shubman not growing more than 81.
Following the massive loss in the crucial IPL 13 contest, Morgan lamented KKR fell short at least 40-50 runs at a slow Sharjah pitch while rueing the partnership between him (40) and Shubman Gill (57) not growing more than 81 while setting up a below-par target of 149 in 20 overs against KXIP.
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KKR was 14-3 at one stage and Morgan feels his batters could have stepped up and should have capitalized the chances after they have already lost 3 batsmen cheaply in the first 2 overs.
Morgan told Star Sports in the post-match presentation: “Particularly here in Sharjah, you have to counterattack if you lose wickets early. Disappointing our partnership couldn’t get more. When we were three down, it was about getting a partnership. We thought 185-190 would have kept us in the game, wouldn’t have been a match-winning total by any stretch. But we kept losing wickets.”
However, the captain was still hopeful that KKR can turn things around and make it to the IPL 13 playoffs if they win the remaining two games in the ongoing IPL 2020.
The two-time IPL champions will next lock horns against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2020 on 29 October at Dubai International Stadium and Morgan hopes KKR will adjust to the conditions in Dubai.
He signed off by saying, “That's one of the challenges this year, going from ground to ground. Hopefully, we adjust to the conditions in Dubai. That's the nature of the tournament, there are not many bad sides. Going into the last two, our fate is in our hands. If we win those two, we should be in a reasonably good position.”
(With ANI Inputs)
