With a loss of three wickets in just 43 runs, Kolkata Knight Riders batting once again had a wobbly start to their innings but a quick-fire 115-run partnership by Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine helped stable the ship for the Knight Riders. A big total and KKR's quality bowling right from the get-go kept the sure-firing Delhi in check and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy's 5-wicket haul secured the win for the men in purple with 59 runs left on the board.
The unlikely heroes with bat
Nitish Rana who was promoted to open the innings with Shubman Gil showed exactly why the franchise stuck with the young batter from Delhi despite just scoring 54 runs in the previous six innings. He along with another out-of-touch batsman Sunil Narine pulled KKR from another tough situation on the pitch. Their spectacular 115-run partnership at a strike rate of 200 helped KKR post a scary 194, a tough ask especially on a low-scoring ground of Abu Dhabi.
“Looking at the start we got, we could’ve put more pressure on them and we could’ve gone more attacking but the way they played in between especially Sunil Narine coming and changing the momentum towards them,” said Shreyas Iyer, the DC Captain after the match in his post-match chat with the host broadcaster.
“Sunil Narine coming in and boosting the all-round game has certainly helped. Nitish Rana was superb in helping us to set up the tall score,” said KKR captain Eoin Morgan after the match.
Cummins and Chakravarthy did Rana-Narine act with the ball
Australian seamer Pat Cummins (just three wickets in 10 games before this match) and spinner Varun Chakravarthy played the Rana-Narine role with the ball. Cummins removed opener Ajinkya Rahane on his very first bowl of the spell but it was the prized wicket of back to back centurion Shikhar Dhawan which lifted the spirit of KKR bowlers. DC Captain Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant then added 63 runs for the third wicket and when it was just looking to be threatening, the mystical Chakarvarthy put on one of the best bowling performances in the edition of the IPL. On a pitch where veteran R Ashwin had conceded 45 runs in his three overs, and one of the most economical bowlers of the tournament Axar Patel didn’t get a second over, the KKR spinner created havoc with his dream spell of 5 wickets in four overs by giving away just 20 runs.
“This is a surreal moment for me because I didn’t get wickets in the last few games, I wanted to get one or two wickets today, but I ended up with five. I enjoyed Shreyas Iyer’s wicket the most,” said a thrilled Chakravarthy after getting his first Man of the Match award in the IPL.
With this massive win by 59 runs, KKR has got 12 points and can now even aim for the top two spots in the points table while DC is still among top three teams with 14 points.
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