Talent counts for nothing if you don't show how strong you are: Eoin Morgan

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have had a tough time in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, but out in a brilliant show with the ball that saw them thump Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by nine wickets. KKR captain, Eoin Morgan accepted that his side had not shown up for the majority of the tournament, but made a perfect start today

"We're not going to knock people for playing their shots. We have a long way to go, need a lot of things to go right. Today's the right start, need that run of confidence. We haven't turned up for the majority of the tournament, but today was a great start," Morgan said at the post-match presentation.

"Very rarely do you perform as well as we have today. The talent we have within our squad, it counts for nothing, you have to still go out and show how strong you are and we did today." the KKR skipper added.

The England captain further said that picking up a wicket at the end f the powerplay proved to be crucial.  "RCB started well, but taking a wicket at the backend of the powerplay changed things for us. Collectively, we took valuable wickets. Maxwell, AB, Virat - we managed to get on top of all of them, it's very rare as well," Morgan said.

Shubman Gill scored a 34-ball 48 before he holed out in the deep with just 11 runs more required to win. While he was disappointed with his performance, he said that he was hopeful to bat through if he got such an opportunity again.

"My return felt good, was gutted by the way I got out but hopefully I'll complete it in the next game," Gill said.

He further added that KKR's convincing win over RCB was a bold statement. "We wanted to make a comeback from where we were, it was a bold statement. Hopefully, we will continue and qualify. It was a good opportunity to get our run rate going, that was the plan and happy to execute it," the KKR opener said.

With this win, KKR move to fifth with six points from eight matches, while RCB remain third with 10 points from eight games.

RCB will play Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in four days time in Sharjah while KKR will take on defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in Abu Dhabi on Thursday (September 23).