RCB vs KKR Man of the Match: Who was awarded the Man of the Match in RCB vs KKR IPL 2021 Eliminator?

Man of the Match in RCB vs KKR: The senior all-rounder from Kolkata Knight Riders won the match award for contributing in both the innings.

During the Eliminator match of the ongoing 14th season of Indian Premier League between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in Sharjah, Kolkata Knight Riders have knocked out Royal Challengers Bangalore out of the tournament after defeating them by 4 wickets.

Chasing a 139-run target, Knight Riders sealed the chase in the last over on the back of contributions from Shubman Gill (29), Sunil Narine (26) and Venkatesh Iyer (26).

Royal Challengers fast bowler Mohammed Siraj’s dual blow in the 18th over dismissing Narine and Dinesh Karthik (10) did give birth to hopes of an anti-climax for his team but it wasn’t to be in the long run as opposition captain Eoin Morgan (5 not out) and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan’s (9 not out) experience worked wonders for them.

With bowling figures of 4-0-16-2, Bangalore spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of their bowlers tonight. In addition to Chahal, fast bowling-duo of Siraj and Harshal Patel picked a couple of wickets each.

Man of the Match in RCB vs KKR today

In the first innings, all RCB could manage after captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat was 138/7 in 20 overs. Opening the batting with Devdutt Padikkal (21), Kohli top-scored for his team with 39 (33) comprising of five fours.

However, it was Narine’s seventh IPL four-wicket haul which didn’t allow Royal Challengers to get going with the bat in hand. Narine, who stood tall on his potential in a do-or-die encounter, picked bowling figures of 4-0-21-4 dismissing Srikar Bharat (9), Kohli, AB de Villiers (11) and Glenn Maxwell (15).

Narine, who both ran through Bangalore’s batting unit and followed it with scoring three sixes at a strike rate of 173.33, was awarded with the ‘Man of the Match’ award at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium and rightly so.

If @ESPNcricinfo had compiled their list of greatest IPL performances of all time, Narine’s effort today would be among the top 5 on that list. Wickets of Kohli, Maxwell, de Villiers, Bharat. And three sixes in his 26. #IPL2021

— Sreshth Shah (@sreshthx) October 11, 2021

“Definitely [one of the greatest T20 performances]. I am prepared to be out first ball. Some days it comes off, some days it doesn’t. I enjoy all wickets, but getting [Virat] Kohli and tying them was my goal.

“It was a total team effort. I am getting close [with new bowling action], not that close as yet like before. [I am] pretty calm and cool when it comes to cricket. I like funny stuff as well,” Narine told Star Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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