Can KKR live riskily in the final too?

Expectations on the rise in Shah Rukh Khan co-owned franchise’s home city

There is something enigmatic about Kolkata Knight Riders’ journey in the history of IPL. The franchise, co-owned by Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan, has known what it feels to be down in the dumps (a last-place finish in 2009 edition in South Africa) to the heady feeling of two titles in a space of three years between 2012 and 2014.

They have actually never lost on the two occasions they made the finals — including a summit clash against Chennai Super Kings for their first title — their rivals in Dubai on Friday. They have also made playoffs on four occasions, showing an consistency under Gambhir to make the last four thrice in a row from 2016 and 2018, but the purple shirts are not mentioned in the same breath as a Chennai or Mumbai.

The unpredictable lot of IPL has done it again by winning five of their seven matches in the UAE having all the makings of a Bollywood script which SRK’s Red Chillies Entertainment would have been proud of. “We are in the entertainment business and needed to play some entertaining cricket. Six off two and you would say the odds are for the bowling side. But (Rahul) Tripathi has done it for us so many times,” said captain Eoin Morgan, implying to the last three overs when the Knights’ chase imploded after an extremely flourishing start by Venkatesh Iyer, one of the finds of the UAE leg of IPL 2021 and a resurgent Shubman Gill.

Dinesh Kartik, Morgan, Shakib Al Hasan and Sunil Narine all went for ducks in the final three overs — and it’s the second match in a row that Knights pressed the panic button in a tight chase after their spinners had done the spadework on the slow Sharjah wick- et.

The Sharjah formula may not quite work for them in Dubai and the experienced lower middle order of KKR has to take the responsibility if they want to put it across a more battle-hardened Chennai. Now that they have made it this far, the demanding fans will not settle for anything less

— it seems.