IPL 2019, KKR vs KXIP, Who Said What: World reacts as KKR win the second match in a row

Both the teams came to this match high on confidence after winning their first match of the IPL 2019 season. Kolkata Knight Riders had made a brilliant comeback against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first match. On the other hand, Kings XI Punjab managed to beat Rajasthan Royals on the back of fantastic death bowling.

Today Ravichandran Ashwin won the toss and invited KKR to bat in front of their home crowd. KKR got off to a great start on the back of a great cameo from Sunil Narine who scored 24 off just nine balls. Then losing Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine in quick intervals threatened to derail their innings.

Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana got together to stabilize the innings before Rana decided to take on the bowlers. The all-rounder became the top-scorer of the tournament and got to wear the Orange Cap for the time being. A score of around 190 would have been chasable on this pitch and when Shami got the wicket of Andre Russell, KXIP seemed to be back in the game.

But then, it emerged that KXIP only had three fielders inside the 30-yard circle instead of four. Umpire declared it as no ball and Russell got another life. The West Indian made full use of this life as he scored 48 runs off just 17 balls to take KKR close to 220.

KXIP got off to a poor start as both KL Rahul and Chris Gayle were dismissed cheaply. Likes of Mayank Aggarwal, David Miller, and Mandeep Singh tried their best but the target was too steep. KKR registered a comfortable 28 run win to make it two wins out of two in the IPL this year and go on top in the IPL Points Table.

Let us see how the world reacted to this:

Ravichandran Ashwin: Look I mean we weren't focused on small things. Small things cost you in this game. We need to be attentive to the small things for the next game. I take the blame on myself (talking about the no-ball). I should have had a look at him (Varun Chakravarthy). He, of course, was a debutant and would do better from here on. The way Varun Chakravarthy bowled in the 15th over to Uthappa and Rana was a big positive. We also learnt coming over to KKR in terms of handling one small boundary on one side and a bigger one on the other side. Mayank batted well despite wickets going down. I thought about 200 was par for this track and that is where the smaller mistakes cost us. We played four games at Mohali and won all four over there. It is important to win games on the bounce.

Dinesh Karthik (KKR skipper): "Obviously a good start to the tournament for us. The way Nitish played was beautiful. Got to give credit to Robbie for playing through and the start was very good as well. Obviously, Russell's finish was great. It was clear that when Sunil was back from his injury, he had to bat at the top. Always playing away is a good challenge."

Andre Russell (17-ball 48 and 2 for 21) Man of the Match: "I think I have to make a bigger garage with all these cars. Gayle is like a brother to me, the legend. To get him out early was great. I am happy that I could get the job done. Today I hit some big ones, but he (Gayle) is still the bigger hitter. Thanks to that guy was not inside. When I got bowled, I was like. Mmmm I missed it. But then when I saw the umpire check for the no-ball I was like please God let this be a free-hit for front foot, but it was given for the fielder's mistake."

Gaurav Kalra

Gayle, set and match? #KKRvKXIP

— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) March 27, 2019

Bharath Seervi

Varun Chakravarthy was bought for 8.4 crores in this year's auction. He gets hit for 25 runs in his first over, by Sunil Narine! #KKRvKXIP

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) March 27, 2019

Ayaz Menon

Stiff fight out up by Punjab. Moment of carelessness in the field, which gave dangerous Russell a reprieve, cost them the match. No taking away any credit from KKR though. Quite superb

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) March 27, 2019

Harsha Bhogle

So much so often depends on little things. Only 3 inside the circle, a top Yorker nullified and Russell unleashed

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 27, 2019

Akash Chopra

Varun had a bad start alright...but don’t agree with the tactics of bowling spin to Narine. Especially when you have three proper pacers in Shami, Tye and Viljoen. #KKRvKXIP #IPL

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 27, 2019

Jatin Sapru

Look what you’ve done - One fielder outside the circle has turned 60,000 in the stands into fielders... It’s an Undertaker kinda comeback for Dre Russ ! Monstrous #KKRvKXIP

— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) March 27, 2019

Vikram Sathaye

So good to see @robbieuthappa play such a class innings . Well played Mate !

— Vikram Sathaye (@vikramsathaye) March 27, 2019

Umang Pabari

Most runs conceded by Ashwin in an IPL match:53 v SRH, Mohali, 201847 v KKR, Kolkata, 2019*46 v RCB, Chennai, 2012#KKRvKXIP

— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) March 27, 2019

Sampath Bandarupalli

Varun Chakravarthy's most expensive bowling in the TNPL (10 matches): 4-0-28-0His first over in the IPL - 25 runs (24 by Sunil Narine) #IPL2019 #KKRvKXIP

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) March 27, 2019

Bharath Seervi

8 boundaries in a row for Russell6 4 4 6 6 6 6 4#KKRvKXIP #IPL2019

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) March 27, 2019