Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder, Sunil Narine has noted that it was a bit weird to play against Delhi Daredevils (DD) skipper Gautam Gambhir, who was with the Kolkata side for the past seven seasons.
Meanwhile, Gambhir’s return was not at all sweet, as Delhi suffered a humiliating loss by 71 runs.
Batting first, Kolkata banked on some mighty blows from Andre Russell (41 off 12) and Nitish Rana (59 off 35) to post a huge total of 200 runs. Meanwhile, Russell was well in line to break KL Rahul’s record of fastest fifty but fell short of nine runs.
Robin Uthappa (35) and Chris Lynn (31) also provided good support, as Kolkata posted their highest score of the season.
In reply, loss of wickets at regular intervals cost Delhi the match. Nobody took the onus on themselves to bat till the end.
Moreover, they gave away wickets on bad deliveries which hurt them the most. Other than Glenn Maxwell (47) and Rishabh Pant (45), no other batsmen crossed the single-digit figure.
Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav was spot on with the ball claiming three wickets each. The young Shivam Mavi also bowled with good pace and temperament.
It was a weird feeling
Narine and Gambhir had a long chat ahead of the game. Moreover, Gambhir also expressed his excitement on landing in Kolkata. Kolkata’s CEO also welcomed him on his return to second home.IPL
However, for Narine, it was a weird moment to see Gambhir on the other side.
“It felt a little weird knowing Gambhir was on the opposite side. But that’s cricket (team without Gambhir), that’s part and parcel of the game, we all put heart and soul into the game, and he now belongs to another team,” Narine said to Ian Bishop while taking the Purple Cap.
Meanwhile, Gambhir had a bad outing, as he got out scoring only eight runs. Also, so far, he didn’t have a good IPL so far and will look to improve his statistics.
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