Kolkata Knight Riders produced a clinical show in Delhi Capitals’ second home of IPL 2024 for a big 106-run win that took them to the top of the points table in Vizag on Wednesday night. This is the first time in their history that KKR have won first three games of an IPL season.
KKR were a class apart with the bat and the ball. They opted to bat first on a belter and Sunil Narine produced an exhibition of six-hitting in a stunning 39-ball 85 while Angkrish Raghuvanshi produced a blistering fifty of his own on IPL batting debut – 54 off 27. The late blitz led by Andre Russell (41 off 19) and Rinku Singh (26 off 8) propelled them to 272/7 – the second-highest team total in the history of IPL.
A week back Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians played out a high-scoring affair when the former set the new benchmark for the highest team total in the competition’s history. DC had the wares to give a fitting reply but unlike MI, they made a horror start losing their top-four batters well inside the first five overs which all but ended their hopes of chasing down the record target.
David Warner (18), Prithvi Shaw (10), Mitchell Marsh (0) and Abhishek Porel (0) were back in the dug-out long before the Powerplay ended.
It was DC skipper Rishabh Pant who reignited the hopes with his second successive fifty of the season and together with Tristan Stubbs, provided some respectability to the team’s total.
Pant made 55 off 25 while Stubbs 54 off 32 but others around them failed to show up as DC were bowled out for 166 in 17.2 overs.
For KKR, Mitchell Starc, who had bowled eight wicketless overs for 100 runs prior to tonight’s fixture, returned to form with figures of 2/25 from three overs that included the scalps of his Australia teammates Warner and Marsh.
Vaibhav Arora (3/27) and Varun Chakaravarthy (3/33) were the star performers with the ball for the visitors.
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Earlier, Narine punished all DC bowlers alike, sending the ball over the boundary rope seven times. He also hit seven fours during his innings.
DC were guilty of dropping him on 53 and Narine made his opponents suffer as he notched his highest-ever score in T20 cricket.
Raghuvanshi, who didn’t get to bat in his first IPL match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, also fired on all cylinders, complementing Narine as the pair shared an explosive 104-run stand off 48 balls.
It was a forgettable performance by the Delhi bowlers as they conceded the highest total in the team’s history. KKR hit as many as 18 sixes and 28 fours.
Narine his his first of many boundaries when he creamed a short ball by Khaleel Ahmed to deep point.
The West Indian took a special liking for veteran pacer Ishant Sharma, collecting 26 runs from the fourth over that included three sixes and two fours, giving a glimpse of what was to come.
At the other end Phil Salt hit a few before he was dropped by David Warner, but the Englishman couldn’t make use of the reprieve, getting out in the very next ball to bring Raghuvanshi to the middle.
The 18-year-old hit his very first ball of the IPL for a boundary and that was followed by another four.
KKR continued to hit boundaries aplenty, amassing 88 runs in the powerplay as DC bowlers struggled to find ways to stop them.
DC seemed to make inroads by dismissing Narine and Raghuvanshi in consecutive overs but Russell had other plans. The DC bowlers were guilty of feeding the all-rounder with full tosses which he dispatched to the boundary with ease.
DC now find themselves at the ninth spot on the points table with their net run-rate taking a heavy beating.
With PTI Inputs
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