IPL 2018: Match 26, DD vs KKR, Review- Knights shredded into pieces by Shreyas thunderstorm

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were deemed to be the favourites prior to their game against the Delhi Daredevils (DD). Delhi weren’t in a positive frame of mind as after a string of losses, Gautam Gambhir resigned as the captain and Shreyas Iyer was appointed as the skipper. Also, Delhi took the bold decision to drop Gambhir as Vijay Shankar replaced him in the eleven.

As a result, they stormed back with a stupendous victory and thumped the Knights by 55 runs. The home team mustered a humungous score which pushed KKR on the back-foot. Dinesh Karthik’s team lost wickets and were never in the game having lost too many wickets too quickly in the end, it was all about playing catch up of net run-rate and they lost the game by 55 runs

Shreyas Iyer mauls KKR

The track at the Feroz Shah Kotla seemed different to the one in the previous game against the Kings XI Punjab. Hence, Dinesh Karthik elected to field first, citing the dew factor and the decision severely backfired on them as Prithvi Shaw and Colin Munro took full advantage of the field restrictions and spanked the bowlers to all corners of the stadium.

The opening partnership racked up 59 runs off 42 balls, which set the tone for the rest of the innings. Shivam Mavi drew first blood for KKR as Munro was cleaned up, much to the relief of the bowling side. However, Shaw went on his own merry way and brought up his maiden half century in just his second match of the tournament. Shreyas Iyer joined his Mumbai mate at the crease and they carted the bowlers.

They carved 68 runs in double quick time after which Piyush Chawla nipped out Shaw with a quicker delivery. Andre Russell pinned Rishabh Pant which brought Glenn Maxwell to the crease. The Aussie along with Iyer ripped the heart out of the Knights. Iyer’s stupendous run in the series continued as he bashed them into oblivion. He brought up his half-century in the seventeenth over.

In the last three overs, the Delhi Daredevils plundered 58 runs which included a plethora of boundaries. The stand raced away to 73 runs off 33 balls and took Delhi over the 200-run mark. Mavi bowled the final over and he was treated with sheer disparagement as the over cost them 29 runs and 28 of it came out of Iyer’s bat and one was from a wide. The Mumbai batsman smacked ten sixes on his way to 93* and propelled their score to 219 runs.

Knight Riders implode to a massive defeat

KKR openers in Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn had to blaze away from the word go. Narine flayed his willow with all his might and scored 26 runs off nine balls, but eventually succumbed to a bouncer from Trent Boult. Prior to that, Lynn was completely bamboozled by Maxwell who was bowling the second over and all of a sudden Kolkata had lost their opening pair in the first three overs.

Robin Uthappa was dismissed by Boult for 1 and a couple of overs later Nitish Rana was nipped out by Avesh Khan, which made the game a one-sided affair. Shubman Gill was promoted ahead of Andre Russell and the move paid off to some extent as Gill played with maturity and kept the scoreboard ticking. Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik strained to find his timing and became Amit Mishra’s first victim.

Russell stomped in and started finding the boundaries at a regular interval. Meanwhile, the required rate climbed with every passing delivery. The partnership between Gill and Russell was worth 64 runs from 36 balls, which somewhat kept their hopes alive. However, in the sixteenth over, a brilliant throw by Iyer from point ended Gill’s stay.

Shivam Mavi’s day went from bad to worse as he was castled by Amit Mishra for a three-ball duck. The final nail in KKR’s coffin was drilled by Avesh Khan who bowled a brilliant yorker to castle Russell. The game was all over by then and the Knight Riders fell short of the target by 55 runs.

Brief Scores

Delhi Daredevils: 219/4 in 20 overs; Shreyas Iyer 93*, Prithvi Shaw 62; Piyush Chawla 1/33, Andre Russell 1/28

Kolkata Knight Riders: 164/9 in 20 overs; Andre Russell 44, Shubman Gill 37; Amit Mishra 2/23, Avesh Khan 2/29

Delhi Daredevils beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 55 runs.

Player of the Match: Shreyas Iyer