Stuck on 999 wickets, Shakib could be dropped from KKR's XI after a forgettable performance

Shakib Al Hasan is on 999 wickets in recognised cricket and his performance in his last Indian Premier League (IPL) match for Kolkata Knight Riders could see him out of the starting XI in the next match.

Shakib bowled two overs conceding 24 runs without taking a wicket and struggled while batting as he scored 26 from 25 balls. 

Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers fired impressive half-centuries as Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 38 runs in IPL 2021 to make it three wins in a row. Maxwell and de Villiers scored 78 and 76 runs respectively, allowing RCB to collect 70 runs in the final five overs to lift the total to 204/4.

In response, KKR began their innings scoring a decent pace but also lost wickets in a cluster, which proved to be their undoing. Kyle Jamieson picked up 3/41 while Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel returned 2/34 and 2/17 respectively to apply pressure on KKR's chase which eventually caved. Andre Russell tried to pull off another heist but a wonderful penultimate over from Mohammed Siraj, where he gave away just 1 one, sealed the game for RCB.

Opting to bat first, RCB got off to a bad start as the side lost wickets of Virat Kohli (5) and Rajat Patidar (1) in the second over of the innings. Varun Chakravarthy provided the first two breakthroughs to KKR. Maxwell then joined Padikkal in the crease and the duo revived the innings for RCB.

Padikkal played a second fiddle while Maxwell took on the mantle of being the aggressor. The right-handed Maxwell hammered KKR bowlers all around the park and he was looking set to take RCB's score beyond the 180-run mark. Prasidh Krishna finally provided the much-needed breakthrough to KKR as he dismissed Padikkal (25) in the 12th over, ending the 86-run third-wicket partnership and reducing RCB to 95/3.

De Villiers then joined Maxwell in the middle and the duo further accelerated the innings, not giving KKR bowlers any sort of respite. Maxwell (78) finally departed in the 17th over as Pat Cummins bounced him out. However, the Proteas batsman carried on with the momentum and in the end, RCB posted a total of more than the 200-run mark.