Just stand-and-deliver stuff. That was good enough for Sunil Narine (85 off 39 balls) to blast the Delhi Capitals attack and lay a fantastic platform for the Kolkata Knight Riders’ mammoth 106-run victory in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.
Courtesy Narine’s blitz, along with contributions from 18-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi (54 off 27 balls), Andre Russell (41 off 19 balls) and Rinku Singh (26 off 8 balls), the Knight Riders piled on 272/7 after electing to bat first. They batted their opponents out of the game as all that the Capitals could manage was 166 in 17.2 overs.
With the batters having done more than half the job, the bowlers ensured they did not mess up. Mitchell Starc finally registered his name in the wickets column with the important scalps of Mitchell Marsh and David Warner, while his new-ball partner Vaibhav Arora (Impact Player for Raghuvanshi) accounted for Prithvi Shaw and the Capitals’ Impact Player Abishek Porel (for pacer Khaleel Ahmed). All four wickets fell inside the Powerplay.
By the time Capitals captain Rishabh Pant (55 off 24 balls) unleashed his pyrotechnics and toyed with Venkatesh Iyer by slamming him for 28 in the 12th over — also recording his second straight fifty of the season — the Knights had practically wrapped up the game.
Like Rajasthan Royals, the Knight Riders too have now won three on the trot to reclaim the top position in the standings by virtue of a far superior net run rate. At present, what could be a bit of a concern for KKR is pacer Harshit Rana’s shoulder injury.
Visakhapatnam: Kolkata Knight Riders' Angkrish Raghuvanshi celebrates his half century during the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders, at Dr. Y.
Earlier, on a belter of a pitch, Narine just cleared his front leg and had fun, unleashing shots to almost all corners of the ground. With the ground being on the smaller side, Narine, who has had success earlier opening in T20s, took full advantage of that aspect as well and gave a fine exhibition of his hand-eye coordination to make it nightmarish for the Capitals bowlers.
Along the way, he also registered his highest T20 score.
Mitchell Starc, who took his first two weeks this season, with Andre Russell PTI
At the same time, Pant’s delay in taking a review not just gave Narine a lifeline but also hurt the Capitals very badly. On 24 then, Narine tried to swing across the line off Ishant Sharma in the fourth over and it took an edge off his blade. After intervention from Marsh, Pant did signal for the DRS only to be told by the on-field umpire that time was over. Replays did show the edge off Narine’s bat.
After such a costly miss, Pant again bungled on taking a review, when KKR captain Shreyas Iyer — on 3 then — edged one off Rasikh Salam in the 15th over.
