Twitter Reactions: Rana-Narine and Chakravarthy-Cummins duos help KKR hammer DC by 59 runs

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have bounced back strongly after the hammering in the previous game. They thumped the Delhi Capitals by 59 runs to get a massive kick to their net run-rate. With their sixth win, KKR have strengthened their fourth place thanks to some brilliant batting from Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine. Then Varun Chakravarthy and Pat Cummins joined hands to leave the Capitals reeling in the steep chase.

Earlier, KKR were propelled thanks to sensational counter-attacking partnership from Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine. The duo got together in trying circumstances for the team with the DC bowlers striking at regular intervals. With Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill and Dinesh Karthik getting out early, they were left reeling at 42/3 in the 8th over of the innings.

At this stage, one felt it will be another batting struggle for KKR. But Rana, who opened the innings, was set by then and Narine first started to take on the DC bowling. The latter first took on Tushar Deshpande and then launched an assault on Ravi Ashwin. The off-spinner was taken apart for 45 runs in his three overs with both the left-handers taking toll on him.

While Narine was at his brutal best smacking sixes and fours at will, Rana displayed form finally to time the ball perfectly. They added 115 runs for the fourth wicket stand in just 56 deliveries. The Delhi bowlers were left shocked with the assault and had no answers to their batting. DC skipper Shreyas Iyer didn’t bring back his wicket-taker Kagiso Rabada into the attack as well and bore the brunt for the same.

The same bowler broke the partnership in the 17th over but too many runs were scored by then and Rana continued to hit boundaries at the other end. He got out only in the last over not before smashing 81 runs off 53 balls with 13 fours and a six. Narine, on the other hand, scored 64 off just 32 balls with six fours and four massive maximums.

KKR ended the innings on 194/6 after 20 overs, the score which looked far-fetched at one stage before Narine-Rana assault propelled them.

DC crumble in the chase against KKR

The 195-run chase needed a good start. But Pat Cummins pinned Ajinkya Rahane, included at the expense of Prithvi Shaw, in front of the stumps off the first ball of the innings itself. The man in form Shikhar Dhawan was also castled in the next over by the same bowler and at 13/2, the Capitals were already way behind.

Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant stitched a decent partnership then. But the required run-rate kept increasing and once the 63-run stand was broken, it was all one-way traffic. Rishabh Pant struggled for his 27 and took 33 deliveries to score those runs and eventually threw his wicket away in quest of quick runs. Varun Chakravarthy then ran through the Capitals’ middle-order.

The spinner bowled extremely well enticing the batsmen with his flighted deliveries and all of them got out to him one after the other. DC collapsed from being 76/2 to 112/7 in a matter of 3.3 overs and the result of the game was only formality then. Chakravarthy registered the best figures of IPL 2020 with his 5/20 while Cummins ended with an economical spell apart from three wickets as the Capitals ended scoring only 135 runs for the loss of 9 wickets.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

https://twitter.com/Shiva_cricinfo/status/1319998147720925184?s=20