Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders Highlights today, Friday 1-10-2021 – 45th Match (N), Indian Premier League season 14th from Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
PBKS win the toss and chose to bowl first.
KL Rahul: “Tricky to bat first here maybe. You don’t know if 150 will be good or 180. So better to ask the opposition to set that up. Our bowlers have done well in all three games. Batting hasn’t fired as well, but the opportunity to score big runs today. Hopefully, we don’t have to score big runs by restricting them. Gayle has left, so Fabian Allen comes in. Mayank Agarwal replaces Mandeep. Shahrukh Khan in for Harpreet Brar.
Eoin Morgan: “Results on this ground haven’t been dictated by the toss. In the second phase teams that have played well have got the result. Tim Seifert replaces Lockie Ferguson. Shivam Mavi replaces Sandeep Warrier. Lockie and Russell are being monitored day by day. They have to rehab extremely well in order to be fit. It is a used wicket today but doesn’t necessarily look that bad. Should be a good cricket wicket.”
IPL 2021 Points Table
Punjab Kings team: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Fabian Allen, Nathan Ellis, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh.
Kolkata Knight Riders team: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Tim Seifert, Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Tim Southee, Varun Chakravarthy.
Match Timings: 14:00 GMT | 18:00 Local
Umpires – KN Ananthapadmanabhan, Richard Illingworth
TV Umpires – Anil Dandekar
Match Referee – Manu Nayyar
Reserve Umpire – Jayaraman Madanagopal
Match number – Indian Premier League 2021 Match No 45th
Eoin Morgan, losing captain: “Initially we didn’t field as well, put catches down. Myself early too. We probably had a par score on the wicket. Kings played well, we fought back, but catches have cost us. I thought in real-time that the Tripathi catch was out. But when you slow it down, the third umpire decided otherwise. We got on with it once he made his call. Hopefully, we play hard in the back end, get a few results, and qualify into the playoffs.”
Shahrukh after that winning six: “It would have been easier for me to take on the bowlers… I thought I had it [the last ball] well. I was brave enough to take the shot. As soon as I go into any situation such as this, that method is really working. We needed three wins on the trot, and have started off well…”
Post match presentation
KL Rahul, the Orange Cap holder, is the Player of the Match: “We are used to this, but I’ll take the two points. We played brilliantly and smartly. We realized it was a decent wicket. There wasn’t much spin. The bowlers felt we can make the batsmen sideways… Really happy that we could get over the line. Obviously, I would want to finish games… [Leaving out Brar?] These are things that kill me as a captain – leaving out young Indian boys.
Chris has left the bubble, so we had to make a few changes to see what would be our best XI. But we go to Sharjah for the next game, and we’ll see… Shahrukh worked really well with the batting coaches, asking a lot of questions, and developed a game where he can play at 170-180 without taking many risks. We know he can hit the ball a long way. He has done that for Tamil Nadu. Not to worry about results. Oftentimes, we have put pressure on ourselves… Everybody knows we are a far better team. Putting pressure on ourselves is not helping. These four games in the UAE have a perfect example. It is good learning for a young team like us.”
