A team that was more desperate to win eventually came out stronger.
Chasing 128, Kolkata Knight Riders stuttered but recovered to cross the finish line for an important win as left-handers Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine got it right under pressure to keep Delhi Capitals at bay in their IPL match at Sharjah.
Tuesday’s three-wicket win kept KKR in the fourth spot. DC, too, retained second place.
The thrust
In the 14th over, when KKR was 76 for four, Rana provided the thrust by hitting two sixes off a Lalit Yadav over that went for 20. Two overs later, Sunil Narine smashed two sixes and a four as Kagiso Rabada was hit for 21 runs.
In a battle within the battle, R. Ashwin made no secret of his joy on scalping Eoin Morgan for a duck after the KKR skipper and the off-spinner were involved in a verbal spat when Delhi batted.
Much before the result was formalised, the KKR bowlers provided the platform.
In control
On a surface where the ball tended to grip a little and did not quite come on to the bat, KKR restricted DC to 127 for eight with a very disciplined display.
Even Rishabh Pant (39) did not look convincing as most DC batsmen fell in their attempts to break the shackles.
Shikhar Dhawan opened with Steve Smith, in for an unfit Prithvi Shaw, but departed after a flashy knock. After regaining the Orange cap with a boundary in the first over, Dhawan tried to bat like Shaw and his over-aggressive approach proved his undoing.
Sunil Narine hit the in-form Shreyas Iyer’s off-stump. Smith, after looking impressive in patches, appeared increasingly tired in the afternoon heat and was finally bowled.
Pant could only watch as wickets fell in a heap. Surprisingly, Venkatesh Iyer cracked DC’s middle order with two quick blows and Narine added another as DC slipped to 92 for six in the 16th over before the 100 was reached in the 17th over.
Ashwin and Pant fell in the final over after adding 28, but the tally never looked big enough to threaten KKR.
