IPL 2025 ke ek dhamakedaar match mein Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ne Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ko sirf 4 runs se hara diya. Match hua tha Eden Gardens mein, aur KKR ne 239 ka bada target chase karte hue pehle toh kaafi control mein lag rahe the. Lekin game palat gaya 13th over ke end pe jab Ajinkya Rahane ek full toss ko galat shot khelte hue cover fielder ko de baithe.
Uske baad jo collapse aaya, usne fans ko hairaan kar diya. Aur sabse zyada chokaya KKR ke batting order ne — jahan Andre Russell ko number 7 aur Rinku Singh ko number 8 pe bhejna fans ko bhi samajh nahi aaya. Mohammad Kaif ne is decision ko leke khul kar ninda ki.
“KKR needs to avoid taking right-left theory too seriously. When chasing 239, you can’t play Russell at No.7 and Rinku at No. 8. Way too late for your big hitters,” Kaif ne X (formerly Twitter) par likha.
Ajinkya Rahane ne 61 off 35 ki zabardast innings kheli, lekin unke out hote hi KKR ne Ramandeep Singh ko number 5 pe bheja — jab 77 runs chahiye the 42 balls mein. Ramandeep sirf 2 balls mein ek run banake out ho gaye. Is dauran Russell ya Rinku jaise match-winners ko abhi bhi crease pe bhejne ka socha bhi nahi gaya.
Iske baad Angrish Raghuvanshi aaye, jinse explosive hitting ki umeed nahi thi. Unka bhi wicket gaya ek reverse sweep ki koshish mein. Fir aaye Russell, jinke aate hi Venkatesh Iyer out ho gaye. Yeh tha turning point — KKR gaye 162/2 se seedha 177/6 tak — sirf 15 runs mein 5 wickets gir gaye.
Russell ne ek six mara lekin agle over mein long-off pe catch de baithe. Tab aaye Rinku Singh, jinhone ek taraf se last tak fight ki. Unhone 38* off 15 balls mein 2 sixes aur 6 boundaries lagayi, lekin support na milne ke kaaran unki innings bhi match nahi jita saki.
Last over mein jab 19 runs chahiye the 3 balls pe, Rinku ne 3 fours aur ek six maara — magar KKR reh gayi sirf 4 runs se peeche.
Kaif ka kehna hai ki aise crunch situation mein left-right combination ke chakkar mein match-winners ko late bhejna, team ko bhaari pad gaya. KKR ko apne batting strategy par phir se sochna hoga agar wo playoffs ki race mein bane rehna chahte hain.
