Starc Or Varma: Whose Run Out Was Better?

Kolkata Knight Riders became the first team to qualify for the IPL 2024 play-offs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday, May 11, 2024.

• Scorecard

There were some magical moments in the field from both teams that brought fans and franchise owners to their feet.

Pick your best fielding effort from the night...

Suryakumar Yadav

KKR's No. 3 bat Venkatesh Iyer was forced to come in to bat in the first over itself after they lost an early wicket.

Venky was in superb touch and in a mood to dispatch every ball bowled at him. He reached 25 off 9 balls after smoking Jasprit Bumrah for 2 fours and a six in the third over.

He kept KKR's momentum going playing smartly and taking advantage of the bad deliveries and a fifty was on the cards. However, Piyush Chawla made a mark first ball as Suryakumar Yadav settled under the ball nicely at long off to see Venky's back for 42 off 21.

Tilak Varma

Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana put on a 37 run stand for the fourth wicket before Venky was caught in the deep.

Nitish then smashed Hardik Pandya for three boundaries and a six. There were a few misunderstandings between Nitish and Andre Russell a few times running between the wickets.

That would eventually become their bane and their 39 run stand was broken only after a superb fielding effort by Tilak Varma. Rana played the wide ball to deep point and ran for a single, he was slow taking off and a yes and a no between the batters eventually saw Varma hitting the stumps from the deep and have Nitish short of the crease.

Ramandeep Singh

The young man was all over the park, diving in the infield and fielding at the boundary as well.

But his most crucial contribution came in the 11th over, Suryakumar Yadav went for the pull short off Andre Russell. He didn't control the shot well and was caught in the deep by Ramandeep, who moved across to his right from deep square leg to complete a good sideways running catch.

Mitchell Starc

Mitch Starc may not be delivering with the ball but he'll come good for his team somehow and on Saturday evening it was with his moment of brilliance in the field.

With Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera, the new man at the crease, MI were 101 for 5 with 57 needed off 3 overs.

Varma was given a reprieve when he was dropped by Ramandeep, who put down a tough chance. But in the next over a piece of brilliance broke the partnership before it could flourish.

Wadhera hit the ball to long off and took a single. Varma wanted a couple so he could keep strike next over and called Wadhera for a second run. Starc smartly picked the ball at long on and threw it to the 'keeper's end. Phil Salt collected the ball and dislodged the stumps in one go to have a fuming Wadhera run out for 2.

• IPL 2024

IPL 2024: KKR Vs MI: Who Fielded Best?