The hopes remaining for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2022 came to an end on Wednesday. Had the margin of defeat been huge, then perhaps the fans, team and captain of Kolkata Knight Riders would not have felt so much pain but Lucknow Super Giants defeated them by just 2 runs. While the journey for KKR this season has come to an end, Lucknow has become the second team to qualify for the playoffs. After this defeat, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer's face was clearly visible, although he tried not to express it with words.
In this thrilling match, Lucknow team scored 210 runs without losing any wicket on the basis of excellent opening partnership of Quinton de Kock (140 not out) and KL Rahul (68 not out). In such a situation, it seemed that the victory would easily come in the account of Lucknow. But captain Iyer (50 runs), Nitish Rana (42) and Sam Billings (36) gave KKR a strong platform. Then in the end, Rinku Singh made a splash with an innings of 40 runs in 15 balls. However, the match went till the last ball where 3 runs were needed to win and Stoinis bowled Umesh Yadav to give victory to Lucknow.
After this tragic loss in the match, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer said, "I am not sad at all because to be honest, this is the best match I have played in cricket till date. The performance we have done is fantastic. The way Rinku played and took us to the end, it was great. But when there were two balls left, he couldn't time properly. He was very sad. I was thinking that he would finish the match for us. He Could have been a hero. He played a brilliant innings and I am happy for him."
Shreyas Iyer said about his team's fluctuating performance in the season, "Yes, this season was not special for us. We started well but then lost 5 matches in a row in the middle. We changed the team a lot of times. We had to do this keeping in mind the conditions. Got to learn a lot and also got the opportunity to get to know a player like Rinku."
