KKR, Varun Chakravarthy
Varun Chakravarthy [Photo-Twitter]

Whirlwind assault from Sunil Narine and Nitish Rana and a five-wicket haul by Varun Chakravarthy has helped Kolkata Knight Riders [KKR] to smash the Delhi Capitals by  59 runs in Abu Dhabi.

Chasing 195, the Delhi Capitals were rocked early in their run-chase thanks to a double-strike by Pat Cummins in his opening spell.

While Rahane was dismissed on the very first ball of the innings, the law of averages finally caught up with Shikhar Dhawan as Cummins bowled him for a 6-ball 6 in his next over.

With DC in a spot of bother, it needed the duo of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant to step up to the occasion. The duo took the total to 2-58 after 9 overs at the first strategic Time-Out.

KKR, DC
Rishabh Pant [Photo-Twitter
With Rishabh Pant struggling for his timing, Shreyas Iyer took it upon himself to increase the momentum of the innings as he smashed Lockie Ferguson for two fours in the 11th over to bring up the 50-run-stand.

But DC needed sustained assault from both ends. Rishabh Pant (27 off 33 balls) tried to break the shackles by slog-sweeping Varun Chakravarthy on the second delivery of his spell. But Pant couldn’t time it to perfection and was caught by Shubman Gill.

With the asking rate mounting past 15, the Capitals batsmen had no choice but to go hell for leather. And, like Pant, it proved to be the undoing of Shimron Hetmyer and Shreyas Iyer and all of a sudden Chakravarthy found himself on a hat-trick.

KKR, DC
Varun Chakravarthy [Photo-Twitter]
Chakravarthy did not claim the hat-trick but he continued to chip away at the wickets as Marcus Stoinis became yet another batsman to hole out in the deep, giving the leg-spinner his 4th wicket. And, he wasn’t done yet, as he knocked over Axar Patel to notch up the best bowling figures of the season [5-20 in 4 overs].

The most striking aspect of Varun’s performance is the fact that barring him, none of the other spinners claimed a wicket in the match. While he gave away just 20 runs in his 4 overs for five wickets, the rest of the spinners went for 0-89 in 8 overs.

His spell ensured that in the end, it was all about the margin of defeat that DC would suffer. Pat Cummins [3-17] returned to claim his 3rd wicket while Ferguson claimed Deshpande in the last over as DC eventually ended up at 9-135 in 20 overs.

Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine’s belligerence propelled KKR to 194 against DC

Batting first, KKR once again failed to make use of the first powerplay, managing just 36 runs for the loss of two wickets in Shubman Gill and Dinesh Karthik.

KKR made two changes to their batting-order in this game. Nitish Rana was pushed to the opening slot while Sunil Narine was promoted to the 5th spot ahead of Eoin Morgan.

And, both tactical punts worked. Nitish Rana finally regained his form as he smashed a whirlwind 53-ball 81- an innings which included 13 fours and a six.

KKR, DC, Nitish Rana
Nitish Rana (Courtesy: Twitter)

Rana’s 115-run-stand with Sunil Narine came in just 9.2 overs was the turning point in KKR’s innings as the duo- Narine in particular- went hell for leather against the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Tushar Deshpande and Marcus Stonis in the middle overs.

Read More  IPL Live Streaming In India– When and Where To Watch RCB vs KKR Live In India? IPL 2024, Match 10
KKR, DC
Sunil Narine. (Credits: IPLT20.com)

Narine smashed a brutal 32-ball 64 and it was Kagiso Rabada, who finally brought an end to the onslaught. Skipper Eoin Morgan kept with the momentum, smashing a brisk 9-ball 17 as KKR racked up 119 runs in the last 10 overs to end up with 6-194 in 20 overs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to KKR’s win against DC:

Read More  RCB vs KKR Weather Report Live Today And Pitch Report Of Chinnaswamy Stadium– IPL 2024, Match 10