Blow for KKR as match-winner gets injured! Shreyas Iyer drops bombshell after hammering DC

Shreyas Iyer’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) thumped the Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals (DC) by 106 runs on Wednesday, April 3, in the 16th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam.

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat first in the match. They included Angkrish Raghuvanshi in the playing XI. Delhi Capitals also made one forced change to their playing XI as the injured Mukesh Kumar was replaced by Sumit Kumar.

The decision to bat first was excellent for Knight Riders as they posted a gigantic total of 272/7 on the board, which was the second-highest score in the history of the league. Most of the KKR batters played an attacking brand of cricket and the strike rate of all the batters who scored 5 or more runs was over 150.

From the top, it was Sunil Narine who annihilated the DC bowling unit with his sensational hitting. He was well supported by the 18-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who surprised many with his beautiful shots.

Then from the middle and lower order, Andre Russell and Rinku Singh showcased their power game and helped their team register a historic total. Sunil Narine (85), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (54), Andre Russell (41), and Rinku Singh (26) were the top 4 performers in the batting department, and on the other hand, Anrich Nortje was the top wicket-taker for DC with a 3-wicket haul under his belt.

Defending the target, the KKR bowlers did an excellent job and reduced the DC to 4-33. Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs showed some fight but it wasn’t enough as they were bowled out for 166 to hand over KKR a stunning 106-run win.

For the Knight Riders, Varun Chakravarthy and Vaibhav Arora bagged 3 wickets each, Mitchell Starc got two wickets while Sunil Narine and Andre Russell picked up one wicket each.

No, it didn’t to be honest, we thought we will reach 210-220 but 270 was the icing on the cake – Shreyas Iyer

At the post-match presentation, Shreyas Iyer said that he wasn’t expecting his team to post over 270 runs on the board. He stated:

“No, it it didn’t to be honest, we thought we will reach 210-220 but 270 was an icing on the cake. I said in a pre-match interview that Sunny’s job is to take us off to a good start, if he doesn’t get us off, that’s also okay.”

While talking about the young Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer said that he was fearless and batted phenomenally. Shreyas Iyer said:

“(On Raghuvanshi) He was fearless from ball one, his work ethic is phenomenal, the way he played his shots were pleasing to the eye. It’s great to see all the bowlers stepping up at the right time and capitalizing on the opportunities.”

Shreyas Iyer further talked about Harshit Rana, who surprisingly didn’t bowl a single over in the match despite being one of the top performers for the team. The KKR skipper said that the pacer got injured and was seen holding his shoulder in pain, which came as a hammering blow for the Knight Riders.

“(On Harshit Rana’s injury) I also don’t know, on the field he was holding his shoulder. I have been in that situation before. Vaibhav Arora took crucial wickets for us, he stood up for us tonight,” Shreyas Iyer signed off.