IPL 2021: Brian Lara bashes KKR's careless approach against MI

Kolkata Knight Riders’ 10-run defeat against the Mumbai Indians in the 5th league match of the Indian Premier League has left Brian Lara shocked. Chasing an under-par target after a good bowling display, KKR needed 31 runs from 30 balls with more than half their wickets in hands in a chase of 153. A dramatic collapse that followed led them to fall 10 runs behind to record their 22nd loss against MI in the IPL history.

Speaking about KKR’s approach, Lara pointed out that they only needed some sensible cricket after they had got a solid start from their openers. Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill provided their team a flying start as they added 72 runs from 54 balls when things seemed going KKR’s way completely.

Thereafter, a continuous fall of wickets applied brakes on their scoring and they eventually succumbed under the pressure during the final overs to continue their Mumbai Indians jinx in the IPL.

Mumbai Indians won it because they had the right bowlers at the right time: Brian Lara

“Mumbai Indians won it because they had the right bowlers at the right time,” Brain Lara told Star Sports. “The pressure piled on. It’s a slow track. It’s not a track where you can walk in and play your shots. You have got to take your time. A 145 is the average score in Chepauk. You have got to take that into consideration.”

“You can’t be like ‘okay, we got a good start, let’s just steamroll this opposition’. You have got to play sensible cricket. You have got to see which bowlers are potent on this track and the spinners are. The leg-spinner getting left-handers out, that’s not normal. That’s supposed to be the right match-up for a batsman. But he got them all out because they played carelessly”, he said.

Giving credit to Mumbai Indians, Lara further said that “they played smart cricket. If even they had lost at the end, they played the best they could. Credit must be given to Mumbai for going out there and putting that plan together and taking it right down to the end,” Lara concluded.

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