'Shameful defeat': Sehwag questions Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik's intent after KKR collapse

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ended up choking in the final five overs of the match against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Tuesday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to suffer a crushing 10-run defeat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag, after the defeat, questioned experienced campaigners Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik’s approach in the chase in what he termed as a “shameful” defeat for KKR.

Despite needing just 31 runs off the last 30 deliveries with six wickets in hand, KKR ended up losing the match by 10 runs and failed to finish the match despite dominating for 35 overs. Two of the famed finishers in the game, Russell and Karthik, got stuck in the middle and their failure to hit boundaries and rotate the strike led to a heartbreaking defeat.

While Russell scored 9 off 15 balls, Karthik was unbeaten on 8 off 11 balls. Sehwag opined that both Russell and Karthik wanted to stay there till the final ball but failed to finish the match.

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“Eoin Morgan had given a statement that they will play that way (with positive intent) after the first game but it didn't look like that when Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik came in to bat. The way Russell and Karthik batted, it felt like they planned to take the game till the end and win it. But that didn’t happen. The batters who came before them – be it Shakib Al Hasan, Eoin Morgan, Shubman Gill or Nitish Rana – all of them played with positive intent,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.

Sehwag further said that either Rana or Gill should have finished the game for KKR.

"Either Rana or Gill should have batted till the end. They had seen what had happened in the MI innings, despite getting off to a good start they could only manage 152," he said.

The likes of Rahul Chahar, Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult executed the plans to perfection and managed to restrict KKR to just 20 runs in last five overs to win the match for MI.

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Sehwag further took a jibe at KKR and said the Morgan-led outfit defined how to lose a game from a winning position while labeling it a “shameful defeat”.

“Kolkata Knight Riders just lost the game which was almost won at one stage. When Russell came into bat, KKR needed 30 runs in 27-odd balls. Dinesh Karthik batted till the end but couldn’t win the game. That’s a shameful defeat,” he said.

“The runs per ball difference wasn’t much except for the last couple of overs. We saw how to lose a game that is almost won. You hardly get any game where you are chasing 152 and you need to score 36-odd runs in 6 overs with 6-7 wickets in hand. In such scenarios, teams prefer to end the game quickly to improve their net run rate. But KKR failed to do that and hampered their net-run rate,” he added.

KKR will next face Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday in Chennai.