IPL 2018: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils

KKR’s Nitish Rana played commendably and beaten hard with his ball successfully scored fantastic fifty-nine. And in the third, young pacer Shivam Mavi castled Gautam Gambhir to reduce Delhi to 24 for 3.

Pant’s wicket triggered a batting collapse for Daredevils as they lost next six wickets in 5.5 overs for 43 runs. “We will think about it tonight and decide the combination, take a call tomorrow”, said skipper Dinesh Karthik after training on Friday.

Delhi Daredevils won the toss and chose to bowl first. Maxwell is the only hope for the team to win this match. After Pant’s exit it was all downhill for Delhi as Narine took charge to twist the knife further with a three-wicket haul.

Kuldeep Yadav brought Knight Riders back on track, picking up Pant in the ninth over inducing him to go for a big shot that ended up in the hands of Piyush Chawla at deep midwicket. Followed by Nitish Rana taking a good catch at slips to dismiss Shreyas Iyer off Russell. It was hard to miss the poetic justice of the milestone coming in front of Gambhir, his former captain, who played a part in Narine’s stardom.

OFF THE MARK: Lynn gets off the mark with a maximum after not having gotten off the mark in 8 balls. Skipper Dinesh Karthik and assistant coach Simon Katich would rather point to the positives than dwell on failures. His 59 came off 35 balls and contained five fours and four sixes.

Rana and Russell stitched together a 61-run partnership in just 22 balls for the fifth wicket.

Earlier in the day, KKR overcame an average start to post a formidable total after being put into bat.

The Aussie pack: Chris Lynn showed what he is capable of at the top of the order, blasting 31 runs from 29 balls, a knock that included four boundaries and a six. On Monday, against Delhi Daredevils he got to his maiden half-century for his new team with an innings that blended poise and panache in equal measure.

With bowlers keeping things tight it looked like Delhi will restrict the host for low score, but West Indian powerhouse Andre Russel had another idea. The Sunrisers also lost wickets in the middle of the innings, but were not troubled by the Kolkata-based outfit. T Boult comes into attack and takes the wicket of Sunil Narine on the 3rd ball. Momentum too is on their side and could play a huge factor in the match.