Picture : Twitter / IPL
Kolkata Knight Riders came back strongly in a must win match against the table toppers Delhi Capitals to win by 59 runs in Abu Dhabi. KKR needed a win after it was routed by RCB in their earlier encounter where they could manage
total of 84. RCB won by 8 wickets.
So for Eoin Morgan’s side the clash against Delhi Capitals was crucial to keep play-offs hopes alive . DC skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field first. His move seem to have worked as KKR lost three quick early on. Poor form of Shubman Gill continued he fell for (9), Rahul Tripathi ( 13 ) Dinesh karthik (3). The side was reeling at 42/ 3 in 7. 2 overs . But a superb 115 run stand between aggressive Nitish Rana and back in the side Sunil Narine took the match away from the Capitals. Rana played shots all around . He smashed a fine 81 off 53 balls with 13 fours and one six. Sunil Narine made a prefect comeback and showed his batting prowess by hitting a crucial fifty. Narine was belligerent 64 off 32 balls with six fours and four sixes. Eoin Moran hit some lusty hits towards the end ( 17) as they reached a imposing 194/6 in their twenty overs.
For the Delhi Capitals, Kagiso Rabada 2/33 ( 4 overs), Anrich Nortje 2/27 ( 4 overs), Marcus Stoinis 2/41 ( 4 overs), Ravichandran Ashwin 0/45 (3 overs), Axar Patel was clearly under bowled only one over. Tushar Deshpande 0/40 ( 4 overs)
In reply to the challenging total, For KKR , Aussie speedster Pat Cummins finally got among the wickets . Cummins rocked Capitals early by dismissing out of form Ajinkya Rahane ( 6) and in-from Shikhar Dhawan ( 6). Skipper Shreyas Iyer ( 47), Rishabh Pant ( 27), Shimron Hetmyer ( 10), Marcus Stoinis ( 6) failed to move on. The Capitals succumbed to the wily spin of Varun Chakravarthy. Who was brilliant with a five wicket haul. The Capitals could manage 139/5 in their twenty overs and lost the match by 59 runs.
For KKR, Varun Chakravarthy was the star of the match with 5/20 ( 4 overs) Pat Cummins 3/ 17 ( 4 overs), Lockie Ferguson 1/30 ( 4 overs) were the other wicket- takers.
With 10 points to their name, #KXIP are now positioned at 5 on the points table.#Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/t0SFFkR3fI
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 24, 2020
The Capitals stay on top though with 14 points while KKR stays at 4th but with 12 points and keeps them on the play- offs hunt.
