Sunil Narine plundered his personal best in T20s – 85 off 39 – almost home-grown Angkrish Raghuvanshi matched him with 54 off 27, and Andre Russell added the finishing touches with 41 off 19. Sunil Narine post his heroics versus RCB at Chinnaswamy has seemed to rediscover his monstrous touch few seasons back again took DC took to cleaners especially ending the match in the powerplay itself.
Led by half-centuries by Sunil Narine (39-ball 85) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (27-ball 54), followed by a late blitz of Andre Russell (19-ball 41) and Rinku Singh (8-ball 26), KKR piled up 272/7 – the second highest score in IPL history. DC were dented early in the chase and could only manage 166.
Last Wednesday at the IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad set the record for the highest IPL score: 277. What should have been a once-in-a-decade effort was very nearly taken down by a marauding Kolkata Knight Riders batting unit tonight in Visakhapatnam.
Pitch and Toss
It’s nice and cool – it’s not a big ground, the side boundaries are 60m each and the straight boundary is at 74m. It looks like a well prepared surface, it looks very hard and with not much grass. Because of its hardness, there will not be a lot in it for the spinners, variations will be the key for the pacers. Khaleel Ahmed spoke about getting more swing due to the wind and it’s something to look forward to. Generally, this looks like an easy and true surface with the batters able to score across all the parts of the ground, reckons Ian Bishop, in his pitch report.
Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bat with Angkrish Raghuvanshi as the only change in the squad. Delhi Capitals having won their previous match at Vizag vs CSK, bowling first bought in Sumit Kumar for injured Mukesh Kumar.
Sunil Narine explosion in Powerplay takes game away from Delhi Capitals.
Sunil Narine, the pinch-hitter, who had lost a bit of that magic touch to short deliveries in the last few seasons, has come back this season more effective than he ever was. Following up on his exploits in the previous game, he imposed himself on the DC bowlers.
After three quiet overs, where he was kept in check by Khaleel Ahmed and Ishant Sharma managing only 8 runs off his first nine deliveries, he took the attack to the latter in the fourth. He got going by drilling a length delivery outside off over the long off fence and then pulling a short delivery over deep square leg. The carnage continued as he continued to smash Ishant’s length and full deliveries in a 26-run over.
The southpaw then meted out a similar treatment to Rasik Salam in the last over of the powerplay , hammering three boundaries and a six as KKR’s score surged to 88 for 1 before the field restrictions were taken off. By then, in only 21 balls, he had brought up his half-century – the last 43 runs coming off only 12 deliveries.
No bowler was spared in Sunil Narine’s onslaught. He took down Axar for 19 runs and kept throwing his bat at everything that the bowlers were sending his way. He didn’t necessarily always find the middle of the willow but had enough power or enough luck for the ball to land in safe areas. Sunil Narine’s innings eventually came to an end in the 13th over when his attempted swat off Mitchell Marsh only caught the edge to the ‘keeper. However, by then, KKR’s score had swelled to 164.
Khaleel Ahmed and Ishant Sharma set Capitals’ win in the previous match in Vizag with swing early on. Here, though, probably because of Sunil Narine’s presence, both of them started slightly short of a length. The one ball that Khaleel pitched up swung to beat Sunil Narine.
It seems ridiculous now but Sunil Narine took six balls to get off the mark. Capitals had managed to keep Sunil Narine quiet, but had they missed the small window of swing to try to get him out? Another chance would arrive soon to a short-of-a-length delivery, but neither Ishant Sharma nor Rishabh Pant heard the edge. No appeal, no review.
Sunil Narine and Phil Salt had got down to work by then, but Capitals could still have got Sunil Narine for 24 off 13 had they listened to Mitchell Marsh and reviewed. Then again, reviews were not the only thing they were getting wrong. They kept offering Sunil Narine room, when they went short they didn’t get it high enough, and the ball had stopped swinging by now.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi the new kid on block for KKR as Sunil Narine continued his merry ways after Powerplay.
His opening partner, Phil Salt, who had taken the attack to the bowlers in the first three overs, fell soon after. However, that was to do little damage to KKR’s momentum as Angkrish Raghuvanshi, playing his maiden IPL innings, announced himself in the tournament in grand style. He got going by pulling Anrich Nortje’s short delivery for a boundary and then punching a short of length delivery through the point region for another four.
He employed the reverse scoop, the reverse sweep and was experimental in his shot-making, with good effect. He ended the ninth over by Sumit Kumar with a six and a four, and then went on to hammer Salam for a couple of sixes in the 11th over. He put on a 104-run stand in 48 balls for the second wicket with Narine, and perished soon after the southpaw, ramping Nortje to Ishant placed at fine third man.
Anrich Nortje got rid of Salt in the fifth over, but Angkrish Raghuvanshi, trained from the age of 11 by KKR’s own Abhishek Nayar, walked out and laced fours off the first two balls he faced. Mukesh Kumar is not express, but his injury has left DC with even less of a pace threat. Sunil Narine jumped on Rasikh Salam’s medium-pace in the last over of the powerplay, hitting him for three fours and a six to bring up his half-century in just 21 balls. Their 88 for 1 in the powerplay was the highest by any team so far at IPL 2024.
The end of the powerplay brought DC relief only for one over, bowled by Sumit Kumar, but Narine ended any threats of variations in the attack by hitting two sixes off Axar Patel, who wouldn’t bowl again. Raghuvanshi matched him with a reverse-pull over short third for a six. Their 135 for 1 was the third-highest 10-over score in the IPL – all three have come this season.
The death assault by Andre Russell and Rinku Singh powers KKR to 272 for 7.
Delhi Capitals’ misery didn’t end with the separation of the second wicket pair. Andre Russell and Rinku Singh did exactly what their reputation demanded – continued to pulverize the bowlers. The duo combined to add 67 runs in only 27 balls, hammering six sixes and five boundaries.
The effort to keep the balls away from their swinging arc also resulted in plenty of wides which added to the total. At the end of the penultimate over, KKR needed only 14 runs to register the highest total in the tournament’s history. But a fine over by Ishant began with leaving Russell on the floor with a yorker that cleaned him up and then undoing Ramandeep with a slower ball.
Through all the carnage, Shreyas Iyer struggled for a bit, but even he smashed a couple of sixes through his brief stay in the middle where Russell dominated the show.
Eventually it was the short ball from Marsh that got the better of Narine, but it wasn’t just one short ball. He kept bowling short and wide outside off with changes of pace. Narine still ended with a boundary every two-and-a-half balls, and the wicket came too late anyway. The 13th over was the right point of entry for Russell, and he punished the seam attack. Capitals didn’t go back to spin despite right-hand batters at the wicket, and Nortje was the only one who presented the batters with an inbuilt challenge.
Russell was too good for the rest, and when Nortje started the 19th over with one fewer fielder on the fence because of a poor over-rate, Rinku Singh got stuck into him, taking 25 off the over. Ishant then produced a beauty that drew an applause from Russell himself and prevented Capitals from ending up on the wrong side of the record 5 short of Sunrisers Hyderabad score of 277 for 3 vs Mumbai Indians last Wednesday ending their 20 overs on 272 for 7.
Vaibhav Arora and Mitchell Starc announces themselves leaving DC tottering in the Powerplay.
Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora ensured that there was no MI-like challenge coming KKR’s way with a brace each in the powerplay that left DC at 33 for 4 within the powerplay. One of the two tall domestic fast bowlers in the KKR stable, Arora came on as the Impact Player and found inswing immediately. It wasn’t just swing, though. He mixed it up with accurate bouncers. Prithvi Shaw fell to the inswinger before Abhishek Porel top-edged a bouncer.
At the other end, Starc took care of his Australia team-mates, Marsh caught trying to square-drive and Warner playing on immediately after slogging him for a six. These were his first wickets this IPL after his eight overs in the first two matches had gone for 100 runs.
Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs counter attacks to get DC some respectability after early setbacks.
At 33 for 4 in the fifth over, even batting for net run rate would need heavy hitting and risks. For a while Pant and Tristan Stubbs managed to score quickly. Pant was especially pleasing as he continues his return from a life-threatening accident, but their fifties were never going to be enough to deny KKR a third consecutive win
Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs counter-attacked to get DC at least to a respectable total if not threaten the chase. Soon after the powerplay, Pant hammered a couple of sixes through the deep square leg region off Russell, and then Stubbs took on Varun Chakravarthy. After hitting the spinner for a couple of sixes, he was put down by Shreyas at deep mid wicket. The most brutal assault though was reserved for Venkatesh Iyer as Pant hammered the medium pacer for 28 runs in the 12th over.
Varun Chakravarthy grabs a 3-fer as KKR demolishes DC by 106 runs.
Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Pant and Axar off successive deliveries to begin another collapse. Stubbs took on Narine in the next over, but he too departed later to Chakravarthy soon after bringing up his half-century. Barring the 93-run stand between Pant and Stubbs, there was no fight offered by the other batters as DC were bundled out in 17.2 overs for 166 runs giving KKR a third consecutive win – the first time they have started a season with three wins in three in their history of IPL .
Presentations and Road Ahead
Rishabh Pant the Loosing skipper said : We were just all over the place (with the ball), we could have done better, and it is one of those days I feel. As a batting unit, we talked about going hard (after the target) and that’s how we approach these games because it is better to be all-out trying to go for the total than not chase it down.
It was quite loud (the venue) and couldn’t see the timer on the screen (talking about the non-DRS moments) and there was some issue with the screen as well, there are some things you can control and some you cannot control, you just need to go with the flow. Time to reflect better as a team, as an individual and come back strong in the next game.
I am enjoying each and every day (talking about his fitness and comeback) and cricket has its own ups and downs, and at the same time you can try and give your best as an individual.
Shreyas Iyer the winning skipper said : No, it it didn’t to be honest, we thought we will reach 210-220 but 270 was an icing on the cake. I said in a pre-match interview that Sunny’s job is to take us off to a good start, if he doesn’t get us off, that’s also okay. (On Raghuvanshi) He was fearless from ball one, his work ethic is phenomenal, the way he played his shots were pleasing to the eye.
It’s great to see all the bowlers stepping up at the right time and capitalizing on the opportunities. (On Harshit Rana’s injury) I also don’t know, on the field he was holding his shoulder. I have been in that situation before. Vaibhav Arora took crucial wickets for us, he stood up for us tonight.
Sunil Narine for his ballistic innings was Player of the Match said : Cricket is all about batting, so to contribute with the bat is pleasing but I also enjoy my bowling. (On batting down the order with Abu Dhabi Knight Riders) We had sufficient batters, so opening was not needed then.
At the end of the day, it is about what the team requires. Batting with Salt is good, he takes the pressure off me so it’s good to bat with him. On a good wicket like that, we bowled well and were on the money, so a total team effort from us tonight.
KKR continue to fly high – a complete all-round performance from the men in purple and gold! Shreyas Iyer elected to bat first on a proper highway of a track and his batters repaid the faith he had in them. Records were broken in galore as the visitors completely bossed the proceedings. Narine’s free-flowing batting, young Raghuvanshi’s classy knock, and quickfire cameos from Russell and Rinku Singh enabled KKR to post their highest score ever. I
t was always going to be an uphill task for DC and they were found wanting within the powerplay itself. They were reduced to 33/4 and from then on, the writing was on the wall for them. Pant and Stubbs lit up the stadium with their attractive strokeplay and stitched a 93-run stand.
Once that was broken, DC kept losing wickets in clusters and crumbled under pressure. Starc picked his first two wickets of IPL 2024, Arora impressed with his 3-fer, and Chakravarthy also picked three. In the hindsight, DC didn’t make judicious use of DRS and that added to their woes – one of them was that of Narine who went on to dismantle the DC bowlers with his highest T20 score!
We are only 16 games through this season and we have already witnessed the two highest totals in the history of IPL. KKR fell just short of overhauling SRH’s 277, but the entertainment provided by them was top-notch. This massive 106-run win as catapulted KKR’s net run-rate and now they sit pretty on top of the table. Meanwhile, DC have fallen down to ninth position on the table owing to their lackluster showing