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✪ Kolkata’s win over Delhi stresses on the need to address UAE as the heaven for limited over cricket
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Senior cricket writer & analyst
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Why not address UAE as the heaven for limited-over cricket? Having reported numerous thrillers for over three decades from the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, and then from the Dubai International Stadium and Abu Dhabi Zayed cricket stadium, its time the UAE is given a pride of place in the popularity of limited over cricket.
Rahul Tripathi, after his heroic act. Photo KKR Twitter
Kolkata Knight Riders’ nail-biting three wicket win over Delhi Capitals in the IPL qualifier 2 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday (October 13, 2021) off the fifth ball of the last over was another instance of the numerous thrilling finishes here.
This observation is based on the number of times reporters, while racing to meet their newspaper’s deadline from Sharjah, have been forced to change their story, when compared with venues in other parts of the world. On the eve of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup to be held in the UAE, it is worth reiterating that this non Test-playing nation has this special quality that needs to lauded. The number of thrillers produced here not only during the IPL held here but during other franchise league tournaments staged here have been far too many. This also why the shortest version in limited over cricket – the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament- too has been a huge success.
Everyone has assumed that Kolkata was cruising towards a comfortable win when the match forced all those who were sitting back and watching the action to be pulled towards the edge of their seats. Kolkata lost six wickets for seven runs chasing a moderate total of 135 for 5. While Kolkata can be blamed for some irresponsible batting, this venue has repeatedly turned the course of a match forcing a heroic act from someone to win the match. Almost everyone had assumed that Ravichandran Ashwin would emerge as the hero of the match as he was on a hat-trick ball but Rahul Tripathi, through his six, snatched that credit away from him. Tripathi’s six was a display of bravery without nervousness.
Short-lived joy for Ravichandran Ashwin. Photo: DC Twitter
Ashwin, like India’s Chetan Sharma who has rued all his life for giving away that last ball six to Pakistan’s Javed Miandad at this venue 36 years ago, is also likely to regret this. The only difference was that Ashwin almost pulled Delhi to the brink of a victory and then failed. Time and again limited over cricket has proved that it is not for the weak hearted, and when watching matches in UAE one must be prepared for thrillers.
It is also worth anlaysing whether Kolkata or Delhi deserved to be the winner. While Delhi failed to post a challenging total, their consistent batsman Shreyas Iyer, through his unbeaten 30, proved that batting with intent can fetch runs. Delhi also looked like they were meekly surrendering, unable to break the Shubman Gill-Venkatesh Iyer opening partnership of 91 runs. So, had Delhi won, it would have been stealing a win after virtually losing it.
Venkatesh Iyer and Shubman Gill during their 91 runs partnership. Photo: KKR Twitter
Kolkata deserved to be in the final not merely because of Tripathi’s bravery to hit that six, but it was also their determination to fight. Their performance is talked about as one of the greatest comebacks by a team in the IPL history. In the first leg of the IPL in India, they recorded just two victories from the seven games. But in the UAE leg, they recorded seven wins in nine games.
This goes to proves that venues in the UAE back the brave and determined players as well as teams. The result was a lovely feast of cricket that was savoured by all fans and has prepared them for the IPL final between Kolkata and Chennai Super Kings. Let’s hope the thrillers continue to entertain fans in the oncoming ICC Twenty20 World Cup too.
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