DC bowlers triggered a dramatic collapse but Rahul Tripathi kept his calm to hit a six off R Ashwin in the final over to get KKR over the line.
Delhi Capitals (DC) bowlers triggered a dramatic collapse but Rahul Tripathi kept his calm to hit a six off Ravichandran Ashwin in the final over to get the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) over the line in the second qualifier of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
It was KKR's game to lose needing 13 runs off 25 balls with nine wickets in hand and somehow the equation came down to six runs needed off two deliveries. It was 15 minutes of madness as dot balls kept building up and Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan and Ashwin kept chipping at the wickets.
Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan, Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, all got out for a duck but they needed just one hit to get over the line and Tripathi provided them that.
However, it was set up by their openers and the bowlers. Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer stitched a 96-run partnership in a 136-run chase, which most likely had broken the back of it before the last four overs.
It may have been a slow pitch for anyone and everyone at Sharjah but not for Iyer.
Iyer just took off and ripped the DC bowling attack, considered one of the best in the competition and never looked like he was in any discomfort. He charged against Kagiso Rabada, Axar Patel making the best use of hand-eye coordination hit the ball out of the park very easily.
It was not just the shots, it was the mindset and fearless attitude. He threw the pitch out of the equation and played the bowlers and the ball in front of him getting to his third half-century of the season.
Earlier, the KKR spinners had choke-hold of the Delhi Capitals batters in the middle overs and didn't let them off the hook and despite Shimron Hetmyer and Shreyas Iyer's blitz in the last three overs, 135 runs was never going to be enough.
KKR will play their third final and have won both their previous finals.
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