Kolkata Knight Riders dethroned defending champions the Mumbai Indians who were also in the running for place in the play-offs as they beat the Rajasthan Royals in their last qualifying match in the IPL by 86 runs in a lightning night raid in Sharjah on Thursday.
The Mumbai Indians were under head coach Mahela Jayawardena who was recently appointed as a Consultant of the Sri Lanka team for the T20 World Cup.
The Kolkata Knight Riders may have pulled off one of the most sensational wins in the history of the IPL as they defended a total of 171 in a match they had to win to qualify with a stunning display of fast bowling from Lockie Ferguson and Shivam Mavi who rattled the Rajasthan Royals with express deliveries on the Sharjah pitch.
With 14 points and a superior run-rate the Knight Riders join the Delhi Capitals, Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the play-offs, streets ahead of the defending champions Mumbai Indians who had 12 points at the time and way behind in a minus run-rate.
Like never before, the Knight Riders played their best game in the 2021 IPL making a total of 171 for 4 and then bowling out the Rajasthan Royals for 85 in 16.1 overs which marked the lowest total by a team this season.
Left arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan set the ball rolling for the Knight Riders when he opened the bowling and shattered the stumps of Yashasvi Jaiswal in the third ball without allowing the batsman to score.
With early pressure to cope with, Sanju Samson (1), Liam Livingstone (6) and Anuj Rawat (0) were blasted out by the fast bowling duo of Lockie Ferguson and Shivam Mavi leaving the Rajasthan Royals at one of the worst starts imaginable at 13 for 4 inside the first four overs.
Having made just 17 runs in the first six power-play overs, the Royals picked 13 runs in the seventh over giving their team some hope.
But in the following over, total devastation set in when paceman Shivam Mavi sent down two bullet deliveries that shattered the stumps of Glenn Phillips (8) and Shivam Dube (18) in a sensational spectacle of fast fast bowling.
Middle order batter Rahul Tewatia in desperation to catch up with the required run-rate did some lusty hitting making 44 in 36 balls with five fours and two sixes until a ball from Mavi took the inside edge of his bat and crashed into his stumps, the last man out with the total at 85 in 16.1 overs.
Mavi finished with his best bowling figures of 4 for 21 while Lockie Ferguson who bowled one delivery at 150 kms had three for 18.
Scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 171 for 4 in 20 (Shubman Gill 56, Venkatesh Iyer 38, Rahul Tripathi 21)
Rajasthan Royals 85 in 16.1 overs (Rahul Tewatia 44, Lockie Ferguson 3 for 18, Shivam Mavi 4 for 21)