The KKR captain departed without facing a ball after a misunderstanding with Rahul Tripathi as his side slipped to a six-wicket defeat against Rajasthan Royals
Eoin Morgan was dismissed for a diamond duck during Kolkata Knight Riders’ six-wicket defeat against Rajasthan Royals.
In the 11th over – only three balls after arriving in the middle – Rahul Tripathi’s drive struck Morgan at the non-strikers end and fell kindly to bowler Chris Morris who removed the bails with the KKR captain stranded outside his crease.
It summed up KKR’s dismal batting performance, which saw them score just 25 runs in the powerplay, losing the wicket of Shubman Gill and hitting only two boundaries, before struggling their way to 133 for nine.
An unbeaten 42 from captain Sanju Samson and useful knocks from Jos Buttler, Shivam Dube, and David Miller, saw Rajasthan home with seven balls to spare.
KKR have now failed to win a match since defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening match and are languishing at the bottom of the table.
Eoin Morgan has been run out for a diamond duck after Rahul Tripathi smashed the ball into the England captain's bat. That is as unlucky as it gets 😬#IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/dTyPr3tUmG
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) April 24, 2021
Commenting on his side’s batting performance, Morgan said: "I think we lacked a lot of intent and impetus throughout our whole innings. We were sort of behind the eight ball probably from the get-go. Rajasthan adapted to the wicket really well and we didn't. So, I would say the majority [of the issues] was with the bat. About 40 short, which is a lot in a T20 game. Too much for our bowlers [to make up for] tonight.
"It was almost a stark contrast to the last game. We had guys who built partnerships [this time] that just lacked a bit of intent. I think the wicket today wasn't as good as it has been here at the Wankhede in the previous games, so that was a challenge in itself, and a challenge that we didn't overcome. So [we left] ourselves with a lot to do.
"Every time we seemed to take an attacking option we lost a wicket which is disappointing, and at the back end of our innings, it leaves us with a lot to do - which we didn't obviously do."
Image courtesy of BCCI
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