West Indies legend Brian Lara slammed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for their loss against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the fifth match of IPL 2021.
Chasing 153 runs against Mumbai Indians in their second match of IPL 14 at Chennai, KKR was in a comfortable position as openers Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill gave their team an impressive start, stitching 72 runs for the opening partnership.
With 40 runs needed in 36 balls, Eoin Morgan-led side lost six wickets in quick succession of time as leg-spinner Rahul Chahar ran through their batting order, claiming the figures of 4/27, resulting in a 10-run loss for KKR.
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While talking about the match former West Indies batsman Brian Lara while crediting MI for making bowling changes at the right time said that it was a track where players need to take time and then play shots.
“Mumbai Indians won it because they had the right bowlers at the right time. The pressure piled on. It’s a slow track. It’s not a track where you can walk in and play your shots. You have got to take your time. A 145 is the average score in Chepauk. You have got to take that into consideration,” Brain Lara told Star Sports.
Lara slammed KKR batsman for their approach and said that they needed to be more 'sensible' and should have picked the bowlers they had to target. He added that the batsmen lost wickets more because of their carelessness than the opposition's tactics.
“You can’t be like ‘okay, we got a good start, let's just steamroll this opposition'. You have got to play sensible cricket. You have got to see which bowlers are potent on this track and the spinners are.
The leg-spinner getting left-handers out, that’s not normal. That’s supposed to be the right match-up for a batsman. But he got them all out because they played carelessly,” he said.
During the course of the match MI’s skipper, Rohit Sharma also rolled his arm for one over and almost got the wicket of well-set Nitish Rana. Talking about the same Brian Lara credited the Rohit Sharma-led franchise for executing their plans and taking it right down to the end.
“Even Rohit’s over. He bowled an over where he got an under-edge. They played smart cricket. If even they had lost at the end, they played the best they could. Credit must be given to Mumbai for going out there and putting that plan together and taking it right down to the end,” he concluded.
Mumbai Indians will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) while Kolkata Knight Riders will face Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
(Sports today inputs)
