Kolkata Knight Riders provided themselves with a great boost in their fight for the playoffs with a massive win against Delhi Capitals. The 59-run win thanks to the trio of Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, and Varun Chakravarthy took them to 12 points and improved their Net Run Rate significantly.
Rana-Narine duet
Putting into bat KKR presented another new opening combination of Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana but again it was a familiar story for them as they lost Gill and number three Rahul Tripathi in the powerplay. When Dinesh Karthik was also dismissed by Rabada with a score of 42/3, the fans feared the worst. But this wicket brought Sunil Narine, who was making a comeback, and Narine played a fearless brand of cricket to provide the upper hand to KKR.
😦#Dream11IPL #KKRvsDC #KKR #Narine #Rana #Ashwin #cricketnews pic.twitter.com/VB9Ii3egqN
— Cricket News (@cricketnews_com) October 24, 2020
Rana also enjoyed the support and the duo scored 113 runs in less than 10 overs. Narine scored an outstanding 32-ball 64 with six fours and four sixes. Rana batted till the end and was dismissed in the penultimate delivery of the 20th over at his score of 81. His batting masterclass ensured KKR reached an above-par 194.
Varun Chakravarthy show
Delhi Capitals chase had the worst possible start as they lost Ajinkya Rahane on the very first ball. Pat Cummins bowled a brilliant first spell and picked up dangerous Shikhar Dhawan in the third over. DC captain Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant tried to recover the innings and added 63 runs but that is when Varun Chakravarthy started his magic. The mystery spinner broke the partnership by dismissing Pant and then picked up Shimron Hetmyer and Iyer on back-to-back deliveries in his next over to effectively end the chase of DC.
Varun Chakravarthy joins the leggie-fifer club! #Dream11IPL #KKRvsDC #KKR #DC #Chakravarthy #cricketnews pic.twitter.com/NZj8aBowkj
— Cricket News (@cricketnews_com) October 24, 2020
He went on to take the wickets of Marcus Stoinis and Axar Patel to become the first bowler to take five wickets in IPL 2020. Cummins and Ferguson finished the formalities as Delhi Capitals could score only 135/9 in their 20 overs.
Questions for Delhi Capitals
After a great season so far, there are some issues coming up for Delhi Capitals during an important phase in the tournament. This is their second consecutive loss and some gaps in their line-up are quite evident now. Prithvi Shaw’s poor form was a big concern for them, and they tried with Ajinkya Rahane today which was a failure.
Source: Twitter (IPL)
Their batting is too much dependent on Dhawan and Iyer; contributions from Pant and Hetmyer are important going ahead. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje have created a good fast bowling pair but Ravi Ashwin’s form is indifferent and they would expect more control from their lead spinner to earn a couple of more wins to ensure their spot in the top four.