KKR defeat DC in a low scoring fixtures by 7 wickets after 79 runs partnership between their openers – Sunil Narine and Phil Salt.
In a pitch which saw 262 being chased, there was expectations of high scores this time too. Skipper Pant won the toss and opted to bat first as well. DC, who scored 220+ in their last 2 innings while batting first were expected to do the same, but Gautam Gambhir’s men came back after being hit for 15 runs in the 1st over.
Mixed powerplay for both the sides
As mentioned above, Prithvi Shaw scored 3 fours in the first three legal deliveries against Mitchell Starc but the DC batsmen never looked truly comfortable after those deliveries. Vaibhav Arora started his spell with a front foot no-ball was only hit for 3 runs in his over even picking up the wicket of Shaw, after a successful caught behind review.
Starc, who was hit for 15 in his first over picked up the wicket of high-flying Jake Fraser McGurk as he could only score 12 off 7 balls and 10 of them came in the 2 balls before his dismissal. Arora was brought back from the other end was back in a style as he picked up yet another wicket after a peach of a delivery knocked the top of off-stump and Shai Hope had to walk back.
The last two overs of the powerplay were eventful for the Capitals as they managed to score 25 runs off the last two overs and put up 67/3 at the end of the powerplay.
Below par runs in the middle overs for the Capitals
DC only managed 45 runs after losing 4 wickets in the 7-15 overs. Pant, who was dismissed in the 10th over still managed to rack up more than half the runs scored by rest of his side during the 8 over spell.
Nothing much occured during the middle overs as KKR dominated the middle overs bowling 22 dots balls and made the life of the DC batters tough in the middle.
Kuldeep – The Unexpected Hero
Kuldeep Yadav who came on to bat at number 8 was the highest run scorer for the Capitals scoring 35 not out off 26 runs smashing 5 boundaries and 1 maximum to put up a respectable total of 153 on the board.
Salt-y powerplay for the Knight Riders
KKR who had to chase 154 in 120 balls started their innings in regular see ball, hit ball fashion as Salt smashed 23 runs off Lizaad Williams’ very first over of the spell. He followed the rest of the powerplay in similar style scoring more than half of the chase total alongside his opening partner Sunil Narine. KKR finished the powerplay with 79 runs on the board without losing any wickets and looked well set for yet another 2 points to their name.
KKR’s highest run scorer of this IPL season, Sunil Narine couldn’t contribute much with the bat only scoring 15 runs in 10 balls as he was caught by Fraser McGurk in the very next ball after the powerplay. Phil Salt, who looked on fine touch was bowled by Axar Patel after a quick knock of 68 runs off 33 balls. Rinku Singh followed Salt as he was sent back 8 balls after the dismissal of Salt. Singh, who came on to bat at number three, which we hadn’t seen very much only managed 11 off 11.
The Iyer(s) finish things in style
KKR who were 100 for the loss of 3 wickets in the 9 overs looked in a bit of a hash after losing 2 quick wickets managed to get past the line after sensible knocks by both the Iyers, Shreyas and Venkatesh.
Both the Iyers put up a partnership of 57 runs between them as they took Kolkata Knight Riders home with individuals knock of 33* and 26* from skipper Shreyas and Venkatesh respectively and bounced back in dominating fashion after that historical defeat against Punjab Kings in the very same ground.
Written by Arohan S. Phuyal / KhelChautari