Finance
It was unthinkable a week ago that Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 277 record will be surpassed in the IPL 2024. Despite their devastating display in Visakhapatnam, Kolkata Knight Riders had other ideas and ended up with the second-highest score in the competition’s history (272).
The foundation for KKR’s 106-run victory over Delhi Capitals on Wednesday night in Visakhapatnam was laid by Sunil Narine (85), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (54), Andre Russell (41) and Rinku Singh (26). DC had an evident uphill chase of 273, but captain Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs hit entertaining fifties for the team.
In a 25-ball 55, Pant added five sixes and four boundaries to his impressive return to competitive cricket. Meanwhile, Stubbs smashed eight boundaries in his 32-ball 54, sparing the hosts some embarrassment before they were all out for 166 in 17.2 overs.
With impressive bowling performances from KKR—which included Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora during the power play as well as Andre Russell, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Sunil Narine—the visitors are now leading the points standings. Additionally, KKR has begun an IPL season with three straight victories for the first time, establishing themselves as possible title contenders.
On a placid pitch, KKR produced two hours of sensational carnage by hitting 22 fours and 18 sixes, with DC bowlers minus Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar bearing the brunt of ruthless big-hitting. Narine was quick in creating room and lofting with ease to collect runs for fun in what is now his highest T20 score ever coming off just 39 balls.
Young Raghuvanshi, a member of India’s 2022 U19 World Cup winning campaign, impressed with his wrist work and the ability take on DC’s bowlers by mixing innovation with copybook strokeplay to get his maiden IPL fifty. Russell and Rinku brought out their usual fireworks at the end to add more intensity to KKR’s stunning batting onslaught.
Electing to bat first, KKR got going with Phil Salt taking two fours off Ishant Sharma in the second over. Narine got into the act by slashing Khaleel Ahmed through the off-side for a boundary, before Salt joined in with two driven fours to take 15 runs off the third over.
Boundaries continued to flow for Narine as he smacked two sixes off Ishant – a length ball was lofted over mid-off and a short delivery pulled over deep square leg. He then guided the pacer through backward point for a boundary, carved drive over long-off for six and ended the over with a thick edge going for four to bring up KKR’s fifty at the end of fourth over.
Anrich Nortje made an immediate impact when Salt was caught at mid-off in the fifth over, but young Raghuvanshi pulled and punched off him to get two quick boundaries. Narine, who was lucky to survive on 24 when Rishabh Pant failed to take a review on a faint edge, hit Rasikh Salam for three fours and a six to complete a 21-ball fifty as KKR ended power-play at 88/1, going past 85/0 they made against RCB last week.
Post power-play, there was no respite for DC as Narine and Raghuvanshi continued to take runs aplenty against the bowlers. Narine nonchalantly hammered Axar Patel for two sixes, while Raghuvanshi was impressive in using wrists and fast bat-swing to smash boundaries, with a reverse-hit off Rasikh going over third man for six being the standout.
Narine moved to 80s with a flat-batted six over long-off against Nortje, also bringing up his 100-run stand with Raghuvanshi. But Mitchell Marsh took him out with a bouncer in the 13th over, which Narine looked to pull, but a faint nick went behind to Pant.
Raghuvanshi got his maiden IPL fifty off just 25 balls, but fell two balls later when he tried to ramp off Nortje and was caught at deep third man. Russell feasted on hit-me deliveries from Nortje and Salam to hit two fours and as many sixes before the second time-out.
Following the break, captain Shreyas Iyer hit two maximums and Russell blasted two sixes and a four before getting a top edge on a short ball from Khaleel to mid-on. DC’s situation worsened when they were only able to have four fielders outside the 30-yard boundary for the final two overs due to an over-rate penalty.
After amusing himself by smashing Nortje for three sixes and a four with his powerful bottom hand, Rinku toe-ended a slog to mid-on. By flooring Russell with a nasty yorker that swung at a speed of 144 km/h and catching Ramandeep Singh at extra cover, Ishant created a magnificent moment that prevented KKR from surpassing SRH’s 277 record by five runs.
The move of bringing Arora as an Impact Player paid off as he removed Prithvi Shaw, who was caught by mid-on taking an excellent low catch. Starc picked his first wicket of the season as Marsh nailed the square-drive, but hit straight to cover-point.
Arora was great in extracting movement off the pitch and was rewarded with his second wicket when Abishek Porel top-edged a pull to short fine leg. Starc also had his second scalp when David Warner chopped on to his stumps, leaving DC at 33/4.
Pant began to find his groove by flicking Starc for six, before bringing out a nice pick-up shot over deep square leg and pulling in the same region off Russell. Stubbs began with back-to-back fours off Arora and welcomed Chakaravarthy with a brace of sixes over mid-wicket and mid-on to bring up the fifty of the fifth-wicket stand with Pant.
Following the break, captain Shreyas Iyer hit two maximums and Russell blasted two sixes and a four before getting a top edge on a short ball from Khaleel to mid-on. DC’s situation worsened when they were only able to have four fielders outside the 30-yard boundary for the final two overs due to an over-rate penalty.
After amusing himself by smashing Nortje for three sixes and a four with his powerful bottom hand, Rinku toe-ended a slog to mid-on. By flooring Russell with a nasty yorker that swung at a speed of 144 km/h and catching Ramandeep Singh at extra cover, Ishant created a magnificent moment that prevented KKR from surpassing SRH’s 277 record by five runs.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 272/7 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 85, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 54; Anrich Nortje 3-59, Ishant Sharma 2-43) beat Delhi Capitals 166 in 17.2 overs (Rishabh Pant 55, Tristan Stubbs 54, Vaibhav Arora 3-27, Varun Chakaravarthy 3-33) by 106 runs.
Source: IANS
