Kolkata Knight Riders crashed out of the 2022 edition of the IPL with a crushing heartbreak against the Lucknow Super Giants, who became the second team to qualify for the playoffs this year.

In a match that kept oscillating wildly like the opposite spectrums of a pendulum, KKR nearly managed to chase down the massive 211 run target LSG had posted. But in the end, Marcus Stoinis managed to hold his own against the marauding Rinku Singh to ensure two vital points for his side.

But for as good as KKR’s chasing effort was, it was Lucknow’s Quinton de Kock who utterly dominated the first half of the game. The South African ‘keeper-bat notched up his second hundred in the IPL and finished unbeaten on 140- the third-highest score in the history of the tournament.

KKR debutant’s dropped catch of Quinton de Kock proves costly

But interestingly, QdK’s hundred, as it turned out to be the defining moment of the match, could’ve easily been nipped in the bud had KKR’s Abhijeet Tomar managed to hold on to his catch early on in the game. Batting on 12 during the third over of the match, de Kock had mistimed a length delivery of Umesh Yadav’s bowling. He swung his bat and the ball went up to a long height, while Tomar- fielding at third man- put in a dive to collect the ball.

And he almost managed to pull off a screamer- except he couldn’t hold on to the ball and dropped the catch, handing de Kock an early reprieve. Here’s the video of the incident:

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Social media had mixed reactions towards KKR’s debutant dropping what ended up being a game-defining catch. While some encouraged Abhijeet to learn from the incident and move on, others weren’t happy with captain Shreyas that a debutant was being asked to field at third man in the first place.

Varun Chakaravarthy and That Debutant Abhijeet Tomar fielding outside 30 yard circle in powerplay, Shreyas Iyer terrible captaincy. 👎 #KKRvsLSG #LSGvKKR

— Biji pandey (@PeterParker7194) May 18, 2022

Welcome to the world of cricket abhijeet tomar one catch miss doesn't matter try to concentrate from here onnnn

— Souhardya Dey(Joy Mohun Bagan) (@SouhardyaDey5) May 18, 2022