Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) produced a remarkable performance in all facets of the game against Delhi Capitals in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
KKR’s herculean target of 273 turned out to be too much for the DC as they gave in to the pressure and ended up suffering a 106-run defeat.
The pace duo of Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora bagged two wickets each to reduce DC to 33/4 in the powerplay.
The early blow derailed DC’s approach to chasing down the massive total which got more challenging with each delivery.
Skipper Rishabh Pant (55) and Tristan Stubbs (54) bought up a 93-run stand with some effortless power hitting and gave the home fans something to cheer about. ‘
Pant scored back-to-back half-centuries in the IPL showcasing signs of him returning to his prime form.
But after Pant’s dismissal, the writing was on the wall for DC as they ended up losing the game with a massive margin of 106 runs.
KKR marched on to the top of the table with their third consecutive win of the campaign.
Earlier in the innings, the ‘City of Destiny’ witnessed two hours of carnage, 2 hours of ruthless ball-striking and 120 minutes of torture for the Delhi Capitals (DC) bowlers as Narine (85), Raghuvanshi (54), Russell (41) and Rinku Singh’s brutal-bashing helped KKR come within touching distance of surpassing Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) score of 277, however Kolkata ended up with the second-highest total in the IPL ever.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, KKR got off to a rollicking start with a fiery partnership between Philip Salt and Sunil Narine. Having not grabbed a single run in the first over delivered by Khaleel Ahmed, Salt hammered Ishant Sharma for back-to-back two boundaries.
Both the KKR openers finally saw through Khaleel Ahmed’s trend of keeping his deliveries furthest away from the wicket. Narine ran an onslaught during Ishant’s second over and punished the DC bowler immensely as he bagged 26 runs in the over.
Dropped on one and caught on second, Salt’s innings came to an end after he got dismissed by Anrich Nortje, following a phenomenal backward-running catch from Tristan Stubbs.
DC bowlers continued to miss the mark against Narine and the opener completed his second fifty of IPL 2024 within just 21 balls. However, Nortje provided DC with a massive breakthrough, removing Salt for 18, but it was Narine who got everyone’s attention with an explosive fifty.
Narine with his batting fireworks that witnessed the side complete their 100-run mark within just 7.3 overs into the game, alongside Raghuvanshi looked destructive at the crease.
Mitchell Marsh came into the attack to stop the onslaught by KKR, as Narine and Raghuvanshi opted for a more controlled approach to see through the over.
The 18-year-old Raghuvanshi just cannot stop impressing the cricket fraternity, as he added up to his impressive performance in the match with a sensational reverse six. The youngster then slammed his maiden IPL half-century with Narine in a destructive mood on the other. The duo completed their 100-run partnership with significant ease.
A phenomenal Narine innings came to an end, much to the ultimate relief of the DC bowling unit until Marsh got the big wicket. Narine went back to the pavilion after scoring 85 off just 39 balls. Nortje sent Raghuvanshi packing.
Raghuvanshi rocked up on debut and delivered a stunning performance of 54 off 27 however his fine knock came to an end as he was sent packing by Nortje in the 13.2 over.
Just 15 overs into the match, KKR crossed the 200 mark. In the second-last over of the game, Rinku Singh smoked Nortje for three maximums and one four before losing his wicket to a miss-timed shot.
A terrific yorker from Ishant dismissed Russell, rattling off the wickets with a fiery pace. In the same over he removed Ramandeep Singh putting a stop to KKR’s dominant performance, restricting Kolkata to 272/7.
Brief score: Kolkata Knight Riders 272/7 (Sunil Narine 85, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 54; Anrich Nortje 3-59) vs Delhi Capitals 166 (Rishabh Pant 55, Tristan Stubbs 54; Vaibhav Arora 3-24).
