Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered a thrilling three-wicket win over Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Qualifier 2 on Wednesday (13 October) at Sharjah and confirmed their third IPL final appearance after the last two came in 2012 and 2014 with KKR winning on both those occasions.
Opting to bowl first KKR managed to restrict the DC batting unit to just 135/5 in their 20 overs and were off to a great start to their run chase. But, after losing the opening batters, the two-time champions lost a few wickets in quick succession.
Even though wickets were falling at the other end, the right-hand batter Rahul Tripathi kept his cool and smashed R Ashwin for a six off the penultimate ball to take his team over the line.
“It feels great. The win for the team was very important. We had one or two tough overs and I never thought it would go so deep. Glad we won the game. Rabada bowled the 18th over really well, but I knew that I had to just connect one,” Tripathi said in the post-match presentation.
“The plan was to take a two if there was a possibility. If it was two, we were running, otherwise, it was going to be me. It was difficult to straightaway get singles and boundaries for the new batsmen. It was keeping low and it was difficult to hit,” he added.
The youngster then addressed how Eoin Morgan-led KKR scripted an amazing comeback as they went from having only two wins in the first-leg to confirming their spot in the IPL 2021 final.
“I believed in myself and knew it was just one hit away. It has been a great journey for us after the first phase. We believed in ourselves and the approach given by Eoin and the coach helped us,” the 30-year-old concluded.
After defeating the table-toppers DC, KKR will now be locking horns with the three-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the big final on Friday (13 October) at Dubai.
(With ANI Inputs)
