Resurgent Kolkata Knight Riders trounce Delhi Capitals with all-round display
Delhi Capitals – 142/8 (Pathum Nissanka 50 off 29 balls, Sunil Narine 17/1, Kartik Tyagi 25/2) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders – 147/2 (14.2) (Finn Allen 100 off 47 balls) by 8 wickets
Man of the Match: Finn Allen
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) faced off in Delhi in order to remain in contention for the playoffs in this year’s IPL. KKR has had a good run recently, winning their last three matches, while DC’s season, which started with much promise, has petered out. Stationed at the bottom half of the table, both teams needed a win. Winning the toss, KKR elected to field first and a spirited performance by their bowlers, led by the indomitable Sunil Narine, restricted DC to a feeble 142/8. KKR started steadily in their chase, before Finn Allen broke loose at the end to rush to the target within 14.2 overs and 8 wickets to spare.
Good start, only till it lasted
DC started their batting with promise and intent. Nissanka, looking good as always but lacking that match-defining innings, was the early aggressor, specifically targeting the leg side between long leg and deep midwicket region. Rahul, content on playing second fiddle, was also starting to find his range when he suddenly played an uncharacteristically ugly-looking hoick to send the ball high up in the air. Cameron Green took the catch at mid-on, making it look much simpler than it really was. Rahul had scored 23 off 14 balls, and the powerplay score reached 55/1, nothing out of the ordinary, but a decent enough platform to move forward.
Wickets fall, and KKR apply an almighty squeeze
The fall of Rahul’s wicket brought in Nitish Rana to the crease and KKR started piling up the pressure. Nissanka still continued with his merry ways, but Rana was struggling and ended up lobbing a catch straight to short fine leg off a short ball aimed at his body by Cameron Green. Sameer Rizvi, who started the tournament so brightly only to have seemingly fizzled out, tried to break free but holed out to deep midwicket. Nissanka reached his 50 off 29 balls, but got stumped the very next delivery by a wide ball from Anukul Roy. In the same over, Roy bowled an arm ball to rattle Stubbs’ stumps and DC were tottering at 89/5 in 11 overs.
Most teams in this year’s IPL have strived to play with high intent even after the fall of wickets. The reasoning is that while playing aggressive cricket may result in big losses, the chance of a win remains. On the other hand, teams playing cautiously and putting up a middling score almost always end up losing, at least on the pitches seen recently. While a case may still be put forward for the conservative approach, DC certainly took it too far.
Axar Patel and Ashutosh Sharma inexplicably started playing as if they were trying to save a test match. 11 runs were score between 12th and 16th over i.e. 5 overs. Since Rahul’s dismissal and till the end of 16 overs, batsmen other than Nissanka had scored 25 off 53 balls. Sunil Narine was almost impossible to put away and gave only 17 runs in his 4 overs, while taking a wicket. Similarly, Varun was miserly in his first 3 overs, giving only 12 runs.
Finally, in the 17th over, Ashutosh showed some urgency and hit a hobbling Varun for a six and a couple of boundaries for a 16-run over. Axar was put out of his misery by a terrific running catch in the deep by Anukul Roy off Vaibhav Arora’s bowling. Axar had scored 11 off 22 balls. Asutosh was finally dismissed for 39 off 28 balls, but the damage had been done much earlier during DC’s bizarre go-slow approach in the middle overs. An impressive final over from Tyagi brought 3 runs and 2 wickets and DC had scored 142/8. On this pitch, even with some help for the spinners, it was never going to be enough.
KKR start steady but get unlucky twice
KKR openers Rahane and Finn Allen have not been in the best of form and DC would have needed at least three early wickets to make a match of it. For the KKR openers, the small total was a perfect opportunity to get their touch back. A confident start was required and that is exactly what they got. Finn Allen looked most assured against the pacers and Rahane also hit a pristine six over deep midwicket to get going.
With 29 already scored by the 3rd over, Finn Allen hit a powerful straight drive off Mitchell Starc. Any other day it would have raced to the boundary, but today, it caught Starc’s hand and hit the stumps at the other end, leaving Rahane well short of the crease. Next over, Raghuvanshi tried a sweep off Axar Patel, the ball hitting his elbow, ballooning up and then bouncing on to his stumps. Keeper Rahul did well not to try to catch the ball midway and let it hit the stumps. Two fortunate early wickets and DC smelled an opportunity.
Captain Axar Patel had seen that the pitch had helped the spinners in the first innings and completed 3 of his overs within the powerplay. KKR’s powerplay score of 43/2 still gave DC a slight opportunity, but they still needed more wickets. KKR spinners had choked DC’s scoring and DC needed the same kind of performance from their own spinners, Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav.
Finn Allen takes the DC spinners to the cleaners
Chasing the small target, Finn Allen did not need to be ultra-aggressive. He was on 21 off 18 balls when he decided that he had seen enough and started feasting on the bowling. A humongous six over long on off Nigam was followed by a straight six next over against Kuldeep. Allen then reached his 50 off 32 balls as he scooped Starc over fine leg for another six. But the real carnage was still to come.
Kuldeep, either bowling too full and getting hit straight for six, or bowling fast half-trackers to be pulled over deep midwicket, gave 16 and 15 runs respectively in his next two overs. He conceded five sixers in his three overs, four to Allen and one to Green. Kuldeep’s form has been a concern for quite some time now, dating back even before this year’s T20 World Cup, and his performance this IPL season would cause a lot of worry to the Indian team think tank.
Nigam fared no better as Allen smoked him for three consecutive sixes in his second over. This was some of the cleanest and most effortless hitting seen in this year’s IPL. DC seemed to almost give up at that point and did not even bring back Ngidi, their best bowler of the match. With 39 required to win, Allen was still 39 away from his century, but 6 more sixers later, he reached his century off 47 balls, and KKR won by 8 wickets. Green remained unbeaten on 33 off 27 balls.
Axar Patel tried his best to hide his disappointment, but his post-match interview regarding DC’s preparation for next year suggested a team that was spent and drained by this hammering. KKR has had a good run and can still make the playoffs if they play their card right. This win might just have been their most complete performance so far this year and should give them a lot of confidence.