A game of slips between flawed sides

It's 11.45pm in Lucknow. LSG need to defend exactly one run in the Super Over. Nicholas Pooran has already clocked out. He's standing, scarily motionless, at the boundary, waiting for the misery to end. Next to him, Mitchell Marsh is practising catches.

Pooran drags his legs to the other side as the KKR batters walk in. He passes the pitch, stalls for a mini moment and is about to shadow bat but walks off. Standing at point, he re-does the slog-sweep with his hands, clearly numb from the trauma of that Narine dismissal.

This could very well have been Kartik Tyagi. Half an hour before, he was tearing at his face in despair. To hurl two beamers, concede a last-ball six, and still win was a literal hairbreadth escape.

This match could very well be a highlight reel of moments, but the good parts were strewn in a chaotic mishmash of slip-ups and tactical faux pas. It had the markings of a clash between two out-of-form teams fighting to stay out of the tenth spot. The one who laughed last, laughed the longest.

Both teams put their choicest weaknesses on display. After losing the toss, Ajinkya Rahane insisted he wanted to bat first. Six overs in, they were 31/3, the fifth-lowest Powerplay total of this season. Their opening stand now averages 18.37 this season, the lowest among all teams. Same old issues.

That period was dominated by LSG's quicks. Headlined by the brilliance of Mohsin Khan, who robotically hit the good length spot, they had KKR on the mat at 64/4 after 10. Soon after, Cam Green was out, for some reason, trying to counter-attack the best bowler of the night.

Few would have expected LSG to mess it up from that point. But they did.

Before being separated, Rinku-Green had managed a mini-recovery. Yet, for Rinku, Pant hardly had anyone inside the circle on the legside to spinners, allowing him to nibble the ball around for singles and doubles. This, despite the ball gripping a bit on the surface. And Rinku's record versus spin until then.

Rinku's brave counterattack deserves credit on its own, but Digvesh Rathi is to blame for giving him the release in the 14th over. Twice he went short and wide, without anyone in the deep on the off. Rinku had to just clank it over the packed infield. At first, Pant walked up and put his arm around Rathi's long mane. Later, he just gestured with his glove.

Interestingly, Pant kept Rathi for the last over, which backfired spectacularly (read 26 runs). When asked later, the captain couldn't give sound reasoning for the call. "Bowlers got to bowl hard overs," he said. It ended up hitting them hard instead.

Onto the chase. To start with, LSG's top order bore a different look, just like every other game. For some reason, they decided to revert to Markram-Marsh after convincing us for a week that Badoni was their opening fix.

LSG did not lose their top order in a cluster like KKR did, but by the ninth over, the required run-rate was also nine. Pant and Markram were working their way out but were also assisted by vacant legside on the longer boundary, taking off pressure with singles and doubles.

That was the stability they needed in a smallish chase. Neither Narine nor Chakaravarthy got a wicket in their first two overs. Advantage LSG.

By that point, Pant had read the pitch to figure out hitting behind square would be the way to go on a slow track. He hit Tyagi twice in that manner on the legside, and then Narine, collecting three fours in a narrow region.

But then the pendulum swung again. From there on, KKR ran ahead with tactical wins. To stifle Pooran, Chakaravarthy had just one plan. Fast and wide outside off, make him go at it. The first ball, Pooran majestically slapped over covers. For that one ball, he looked every bit the Pooran we don't get to see anymore.

But Chakaravarthy wasn't flustered. He kept bowling the same ball. Pooran missed twice. He packed in another fielder behind on the offside. And there he was baited, walking into the hole laid out in front of him. Sliced straight to short third-man. Pooran stood there in disbelief, just like he would again, all those overs later.

For Mukul Choudhary, the next batter in, KKR correctly pressed spin from both ends. So far, Mukul hasn't been as good against the slower bowlers, and Rahane brought Anukul back on, crucially leaving one Chakaravarthy over for later. In hindsight, Mukul's Eden mania could have been better challenged had Chakaravarthy played that day.

Yet again, one team looked better than the other, but only before they stumbled. Tyagi first gave width to Himmat (with no fielder at deep point), then hurled a full toss to Badoni, who scooped it behind. It was the teaser to something far worse.

KKR could have still won it, had Powell held on to Linde in the 18th over. Another twist. These two teams weren't letting us go easily. From seven down, with 27 needed in 10, LSG managed to level scores after Kartik's horror over.

And yet, they decided to send Pooran, the one guy struggling to put bat on ball, against Narine. Langer would later say Pooran had seen Narine more than anyone else. That one ball, he did not see.

So that's how it was: the second thriller between these two teams this month. A competition to not be the worst. Someone joked it was the worst and best game of the season.

And we didn't even cover a batter given out for obstructing the field, a bizarre failed run-out, the best bowler being subbed out, and sixes (or fours) going unchecked. In the end, KKR were, well, simply less bad.