The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) crushed the Delhi Capitals (DC) by seven wickets on Monday, April 29, at Eden Gardens.
At a ground that usually favours the chasing team, DC skipper Rishabh Pant chose to bat first and missed the opportunity to exploit winning the toss. After their pacers got off to a quick start, KKR’s spinners maintained the momentum.
The fast bowlers eliminated the Capitals’ top four, and Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine subsequently encircled their middle and lower middle orders. Their respectable 153 was never going to be sufficient against the home team, despite Kuldeep Yadav’s 35 off 26.
Phil Salt (68 off 33) was tearing up the powerplay, and this time, hitter Narine was just watching from the other end. He completely destroyed the DC bowlers and set the stage for a commanding six-over victory. Even though DC claimed three wickets along the way, KKR was able to reach the finish line with more than three overs left thanks to the efforts of Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer.
1. Despite the costly trip, Starc was able to eliminate the risky Fraser-McGurk
In his opening over of the innings, Mitchell Starc gave up fifteen runs as Prithvi Shaw hit him for three boundaries. But in his second over, the left arm quickly removed the dangerous Jake Fraser-McGurk. The most expensive player in IPL history concluded with an economy of 14.30 in his three overs, although KKR’s victory was mostly dependent on his fellow countryman’s wickets.
2. Varun Chakravarthy makes a game-winning 3/16 to win it.
Varun Chakravarthy—known for his mysterious spin—demonstrated his strength versus the DC middle order. The right-arm spinner wasted no time in seizing the opportunity as the KKR pacers set the tone early in the inning. Chakravarthy took three wickets to claim the Player of the Match title, including the vital removals of DC captain Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs.
3. Phil Salt made the pursuit appear effortless.
The DC bowlers needed to take early wickets as they defended a low score of 154. However, English opener Philip Salt destroyed their aspirations right away. The game was decided in the first six overs as the explosive batsman tore through the DC bowlers. Despite just contributing 68 runs off of 33 deliveries, he was removed in the ninth over.
Also read: IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders’ 2nd Inning Highlights against DC in Match 47
Losing captain Rishabh Pant said:
“It was a good option to bat first. As a batting unit we didn’t bat well, 150 was below par with how things were going. But we learn from our mistakes, every day is not your day. The way we were going as a team was nice (winning 4 out of their last 5 games), but these games come along in T20s. I think anything around 180-210 would have been a good score, we didn’t give our bowlers enough runs to defend.”
Winning skipper Shreyas Iyer said:
“Not at all. Considering the last few matches, 200 was a par score. After the powerplay the pitch started helping the spinners, was tacky. We got a fair idea as to how it played and to tackle the tackiness. Narine still does not attend those meetings but Salt is always there, gives us his inputs and it’s pure bliss to see him coming up and doing all this.
He doesn’t. I would not recommend him to come either. [on Chakaravarthy] He has been assessing the wicket and has been giving us inputs. The way he performed today was brilliant. We have always been looking at it, even from the first game. The mindset is to qualify as early as possible. Just work on our work ethic and processes, don’t want to look at the points table.”
POTM Varun Chakaravarthy said:
“It was holding a bit, as the game progressed in the 2nd innings, it was turning as well. Nothing like that, when the catch was dropped, I felt that was a better ball, and the one I got him, on other grounds, it would have gone for a six. Cricket has become a game of little margins. I liked Tristan Stubbs’ wicket. I planned to bowl the leg spinner to him and it worked out. Silence.
When something doesn’t work for me, he is always there. In the last game after conceding so many runs, it was a tough pill to take but the whole team motivated us. Abhishek Nayar and even Shahrukh Khan came and spoke to me, definitely motivated us.”
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