Kolkata Knight Riders registered a comprehensive victory by 71 against the Delhi Daredevils in the 13th match of Vivo IPL 11. It was a resounding all-round performance by the men in purple and gold which helped them coast to a victory in the end. There was a bit of scare when Rishabh Pant and Glenn Maxwell were going great guns but in the end, the target of 201 proved to be a bit too much for Delhi.
It was the visiting skipper Gautam Gambhir who won the toss and put the hosts in. KKR went back to their trusted opening pair of Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn. However, Narine failed to dire as he was dismissed early by Trent Boult. Chris Lynn on the other hand also got off to a relatively sedate start in comparison to his standards.
It was Robin Uthappa who provided the initial kick for the Knight Riders with some lusty blows. He scored a quickfire 35 of 19 deliveries which contained a couple of fours and 3 big sixes. Nitish Rana too consolidated on his brilliant start and started taking the Delhi bowlers to the cleaners. However, it was the innings of Andre Russell which literally turned the match in favour of the hosts. The all-rounder smashed 6 sixes in his 12 balls knock of 41.
The Delhi bowlers made a sort of a comeback towards the last three overs. It was Rahul Tewatia who bowled a sensational final over which didn’t allow Delhi to go any more than 200. They were 199/6 at the end of the 19th over. The leg-spinner Tewatia bowled a sensational final over where he conceded just a solitary run and bagged three wickets.
The visitors got off to the worst possible start losing their first three wickets for just 24 runs. It was Piyush Chawla who provided the opening breakthrough in the form of Jason Roy’s wicket in the very first over. Andre Russell removed Shreyas Iyer with a good rising delivery. Meanwhile, the young 19-year-old Shivam Mavi castled Gautam Gambhir with a fast delivery.
It was a brilliant stand between Rishabh Pant and Glenn Maxwell which revived the hopes of Delhi. The duo plundered some exquisite shots en route to a partnership of 62 runs in 5 and a half over. Pant, in particular, looked in ominous touch during his stay. However, a rag long hop from Kuldeep Yadav brought about an end to his innings. The southpaw scored 43 of 26 deliveries which were studded within 7 hits to the fence and a maximum.
Glenn Maxwell too looked in good touch and smacked a 22 balls 47. After the wicket of Rahul Tewatia, Maxwell attempted a few big shots and succeeded. However, he couldn’t quite continue as he was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav. Delhi lost their last 5 wickets for a mere 17 runs, handing the hosts a convincing victory by 71 runs. Yet again Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav emerged as the most successful bowler for KKR. While Kuldeep finished with figures of 3/32, Narine bagged 3/18 in his 3 overs spell.
Here is what winning skipper Dinesh Karthik said at the post-match presentation,
“Wins keep you happy. Feels good. Touch wood, this is the kind of the day, where you make a move and it works. Wrist spinners are picked for a certain purpose. They are standing up. It’s good to see. It’s going well. I am getting used to. Try to separate batting from captaincy.”