We did everything right: Morgan after big win over RR

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan was delighted by his team's performance in the 86-run victory over Rajasthan Royals on Thursday which almost assured them off a play-offs spot.

KKR's win ended RR and Punjab Kings' run in IPL 2021 which means Mumbai Indians will have to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday by a margin of 171 runs.

Morgan heaped praise on openers Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer who got KKR off to a big start with a 79-run stand.

"I don't think it could have got better. Losing the toss and batting was difficult. The start we got was fantastic. (Shubman) Gill and (Venkatesh) Iyer have been our shining light. To get 170 we thought was in a commanding position. A really strong performance today," Morgan said after the match.

"Having aggressive players coming in in the middle order helped us kick...I am not too attached to things as to what will happen and what won't happen... We have done everything tonight. We deserved to win..."

Morgan also praised Shakib al Hasan, who replaced injured Andre Russell in the wins against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royals. The Bangladesh all-rounder bowled the crucial opening over against Royals and dismissed opener Yashaswi Jaiswal for a duck which triggered a collapse.

"He (Shakib) has contributed massively. We are taking it day by day (with Russell), so he's working incredibly hard. Fingers crossed."

RR skipper Sanju Samson felt that the absence of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer in the second leg affected their fortunes.

"Those were the challenges (losing Stokes, Buttler and Archer). Being the captain, I changed the way I look at my innings. I look at the conditions and the batsmen around me. Always thinking about the match situation. That got me a bit more runs," he said.

Samson said 172 was gettable on the surface at Sharjah, but admitted that the batters failed in execution.

"171 was easy chaseable on this wicket with the batting line-up we have. We wanted to execute whatever we planned, but we didn't do it today," he said.

"(But) I am very proud of the character we showed. We were losing some easy games. We wanted to do well mindset wise. We need to play a better standard of cricket."