DC suffered a close 14-run defeat against KKR as they fell short of 205 target. They were in the game until the end but lost it in crucial moments. This match made the points table interesting, as 8 teams are still potentially strongly alive in the playoff race. DC’s defeat doesn’t harm them that much as they are at 4th position in points table with 12 points in 10 matches but KKR have 9 points in 10 matches to their name in 10 matches. Let’s look at the reasons for DC’s defeat.
KL Rahul’s run out
KL Rahul has been a crucial batter for DC this year. KL Rahul paced the chase beautifully against RCB. He is the big player in that team; he had to stay till the end for DC to complete this chase. He threw his wicket in a runout in the 7th over as Sunil Narine aimed at the stumps perfectly. DC’s score at that time was 60-3 in 6.3 overs as KL Rahul was dismissed for 7 runs in 5 balls.
Faf du Plessis was forced to slow down his pace and construct a partnership to stay in the chase. The pitch wasn’t that spicy one, but Axar Patel & Faf du Plessis had to regroup in a steep run chase of 205.
Faf du Plessis targeted the star bowler
Faf was batting at 62 runs in the 16th over, and that was the last over Sunil Narine. Narine already picked 2 big wickets of Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs in his previous over. Faf could have played sensibly in his over and targeted the remaining 4 overs from the fast bowlers.
But Faf du Plessis went for the shot in the second ball and got caught by Rinku Singh in deep midwicket. DC required 59 off 28 balls at that time. Faf could have tried to hit the ball in the gaps for boundaries, instead of going for sixes. Narine’s job in the 16th over was to pick the wicket of Faf, and he fell in the trap. Narine took a 3 wicket haul which proved to be match winning while conceding only 29 runs.
A settled batter’s role is very crucial in the death overs in such high-scoring chases. Faf could have taken the game till the last over & won the game as the dew was setting on the field. Faf’s knock of 62 runs in 45 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes to his name went in vain. The likes of Ashutosh Sharma & Vipraj Nigam tried their best but KKR showed nerves of steel and won the match by 14 runs.
DC’s bowlers unable to break partnerships
DC bowlers didn’t allow any of the KKR batters to score big, but they also failed to take wickets at regular intervals to put a break on the run rate. Mitchell Starc took 2 wickets and ran out in the last over, but before that, KKR had regular partnerships to keep the scorecard moving.
5 KKR batters scored 25-plus runs (Gurbaz, Narine, Rahane, Rinku), and Angkrish Raghuvanshi played the most no. of balls among them ( 32 ) and had the lowest strike rate ( 137 ) and scored 44 run. This shows that every batter scored runs at a better strike rate.
DC bowlers did well in the last 4 overs by giving just 36 runs and picking 5 wickets, but that was not enough to prevent their defeat.
Also Read: DC vs KKR: Sunil Narine’s All-Round Brilliance Powers KKR To Nerve Wrenching 14-Run Win Over DC