Two-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) slumped to their second defeat at home. They also suffered their fourth loss of the season, after they were beaten by Steven Smith’s Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS), in match 41 of the ongoing IPL 2017 at the historic Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday. Kolkata’s English all-rounder Chris Woakes feels that they messed things up in the Powerplay phase which possibly cost them the match. He also feels that Kolkata were 15 to 30 runs short while defending the target, as the match went on until the last over, with Pune winning the tie by four wickets, with juts four balls to spare. Full cricket scorecard: KKR vs RPS, IPL 2017, Match 41 at Eden Gardens
“I suppose we didn’t quite get going in the Powerplay, over the top. We did make a little grand up towards the end of the Powerplay, but unfortunately Gautam Gambhir got out right at the end. I say, to lose three wickets in the Powerplay kind of put us behind. We are always trying to rebuild. When you keep losing wickets in Twenty20 [T20] cricket, it is tight to keep up with the rate and hard to post decent scores. So, in the end, we were 15 to 30 runs short, probably. We were below par and unfortunately that wasn’t an ideal score for us on that wicket,” said Woakes in the post-match press conference.
Speaking on Sunil Narine failing with the bat on Wednesday, he said, ” I think he has came up for us on a few occasions, he has got us off to an absolute flier, helped us chase some good scores and also allows us to set some good totals as well. He is a good player in the top order. Occasionally, he isn’t going to come up. Unfortunately, he got out in the first over today, which isn’t ideal, but if he can get us off to a decent scoring and get 20 off 10 balls, he gets himself off to a decent run.” Full cricket updates: KKR vs RPS, IPL 2017, Match 41 at Eden Gardens
Woakes gave credit to Rahul Tripathi for his brilliant innings. Tripathi’s whirlwind 52-ball 93 stole the game away from Kolkata. “I think it’s always difficult to stop a player when he is on his day. Unfortunately in last game against David Warner, we got one or a couple of chances, myself including. I dropped a catch, and we give good players the opportunities to score runs, which they take full advantage. We did not do that today, we did not drop any chances, but Rahul Tripathi went on to play a fantastic knock. He played very well and credit to him. He put us under pressure and attacked with the new ball. Even when the spinners came on, he cleared the ropes and hit some good boundaries. So, sometimes you have to say fair play, and he looks like a very good player. Bravo to him for the future,” he concluded.
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