Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have beaten Rajasthan Royals by 86 runs in match 54 of IPL 2021 in Sharjah. In the process, they have moved upto 14 points and have almost guaranteed themselves a spot in the playoffs. RR, SRH and PBKS are out of the playoff race after KKR’s win over the Royals. It will be an uphill task for Mumbai Indias now to win their final game given the permutations and combinations required. KKR, meanwhile have boosted their net run-rate with this win (+0.587).

KKR scored 171 with the bat on the back of Shubman Gill’s 56. Contributions from the top and the middle-order meant that KKR posted the highest total in Sharjah in the UAE leg. The KKR bowlers backed up the good work of their batsmen by bowling the opposition out for just 85.

KKR Win By 86 Runs, Mumbai Indians Face An Uphill Task

I guess we have our qualifiers……

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 7, 2021

Superb all round performance by #KKR and terrible one by #RR. Don’t know the mathematical possibility of #MI making it to the play-offs, but must be tending towards zero I would imagine. #KKR’s surge from a near hopeless position after phase 1 is a remarkable story

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 7, 2021

Landed and found out @KKRiders has made it! Nice.

— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) October 7, 2021

Starting with the second phase, not many gave us a chance, but the way the team has come through is amazing!! 💜#KorboLorboJeetbo #KKRvsRR pic.twitter.com/V544uRnJZd

— DK (@DineshKarthik) October 7, 2021

Karbo larbo jeetbo @KKRiders 💪💪 well done boys.. what a performance

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) October 7, 2021

The play-offs equation for #MI — Mumbai have to win by around 171 runs after scoring 200 to get past #KKR's NRR.

If they chase, they can't go beyond KKR's NRR .. #IPL2021 #KKRvRR

— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) October 7, 2021

With this massive victory, Kolkata Knight Riders #KKR have qualified to the last four.

Tomorrow #MI can only bat first make 200+ but will have to win by a margin of 170+ runs!#impossible #IPL #IPL2021 #IPL2O21#IPLinUAE

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 7, 2021

Shivam Mavi took his career-best of 4/21 and was backed up by Lockie Ferguson who took 3/18. He spoke about this performance after the game.

“The plan was to bowl wicket to wicket and to not give room because of the low bounce. When I was playing under-19, you need to keep learning. I learnt how to use the slower ball, when to bowl the yorker, I have learnt a lot here at KKR. I liked Dube’s wicket. Feels nice to get wicket LBW or bowled as a bowler” he said.

KKR skipper Eoin Morgan lauded the performance of his bowlers and their overall performance in this crunch must-win game.

“I thought we were brilliant to take the opportunities. If you got too hard too early here, you could get out. I thought our batters timed their assault very well. Shakib coming in and performing has made missing Andre Russell a little bit easier, because Russ is a genuine batter and bowler. We knew he recovers quickly, so we are assessing day by day. We did everything we had to do” said Morgan.

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