Hello and welcome to Sportstar's LIVE blog of the 10th match of the Indian Premier League between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders.
What a double header we have had today! Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Capitals, not the usual favourites, have wins and big two points over Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively. Kolkata Knight Riders made a real fight of this contest, first with the bat and then with the ball in the last three overs to force a Super Over. In the end, Rabada's tailing in yorkers were too much even for the likes of Andre Russell, who has 15 sixes in the ongoing tournament. Join us tomorrow for another tasty double header on offer: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals. Until then, good night.
My fellow sub-editor Santadeep Dey isn't a happy man in the Sportstar office. He thought the match was in the bag for KKR in the Super Over. You can sense his disappointment in this tweet.
Rabada to Uthappa - 1, Uthappa walks down the track and could not get the connection right on the full toss, hits it to the mid-off fielder. What an inch perfect over by Kagiso Rabada! DC wins by three runs in the Super Over!
Rabada to Karthik - 1, premeditates and sweeps it fine to the fine leg region but Delhi has a man there, only a single.
Rabada to Uthappa - 1, yorker on fourth stump on off, Uthappa gets bat on ball for a single.
Uthappa comes into bat and will take the strike.
Rabada to Russell - W, third yorker, this time Rabada breaches Russell's defence and knocks over the middle stump! 147KMPH!
Rabada to Russell - 0, another yorker, this time he can't make a good connection.
Rabada to Russell - 4, He finds the block hole, but Russell digs it into the vacant square leg boundary region for a four!
Super Over - KKR
Russell and Karthik for KKR; Rabada for DC.
Andre Russell pads up for KKR... He will probably end this with two quick blows! Karthik his partner? Delhi still weighing up its bowling options: Rabada, Mishra, Lamichhane? It might go with the pace and experience of Kagiso Rabada.
DC only manages 10 from its six balls
Prasidh to Pant: 1, another slower ball and Pant tries to reverse sweep. He only gets a top edge and scampers for a single.
Prasidh to Pant: 2, slower ball and Pant toe ends a pull shot into the mid-wicket region for another two.
Prasidh to Pant: 2, reaches and lofts a shot over covers .
Shaw comes out to bat now.
Prasidh to Iyer: W, Iyer lofts one into the night skies of Delhi and Chawla makes up ground before taking a good catch
Prasidh to Iyer: 4, goes for a pull, edged down to fine leg.
Prasidh to Pant: 1
Super Over - DC
◘ DC will bat first in the Super Over; Iyer and Pant will take the crease. Shaw remains in the sidelines. He could be tired from his knock earlier. Prasidh Krishna will be the bowler for KKR.
◘ SUPER OVER! WE HAVE A SUPER OVER! Kuldeep Yadav defends five runs in the last over as the match ends in a tie! Colin Ingram can manage only a single on the final ball and ends up getting run out in the turn for the second. How have Delhi Capitals thrown this away?! It needed just 18 off the last three overs but the inexperience of Shaw and Pant shown through when DC needed calm heads out there in the middle.
Six needed off the last over.
◘
HUNDRED FOR PRITHVI SHAW , his first in IPL! Second century in two nights in the IPL and both by young Indian batsmen, after Rajasthan Royal's Sanju Samson last night. He gets to the landmark with a
NO HUNDRED FOR PRITHVI SHAW! How unlucky, as he falls for 99! The youngster goes for a pull off Ferguson and skies a difficult catch for Dinesh Karthik, who does well to hang on to it.
DC 180/4 after 19 overs
◘ Pant goes for a biggie off Kuldeep and holds out at deep mid-wicket. DC needs 15 off 12 balls.
◘ Shaw is toying with the KKR bowling at the moment, including its strike bowler Lockie Ferguson. Three streaky boundaries off Prasidh Krishna takes him well into the 90s. He moves to 96 with DC needing 18 off 18 balls. DC 168/2 after 17 overs
46 needed off 30 balls. Should be doable for Delhi Capitals with eight wickets in hand. How much is KKR missing Sunil Narine the bowler today?
◘ DROPPED! Not a great day for Shubman Gill. He drops a dolly at deep mid-wicket in the third ball of the over for a four, but he manages to take a clean catch at the edge of the boundary a ball later to dismiss Iyer. Iyer, finally, comes good with a knock of 44 off 32 balls. DC 116/2 after 12 overs
◘ FIFTY for Prithvi Shaw! He brings up his first fifty of the season with a six over covers and sweep to the square leg region. Huge over for the Capitals as Shaw and Iyer take 20 runs off Kuldeep's over and the required rate comes down below 10. DC 102/1 after 11 overs
◘ 31 runs off the last three overs as Shaw and Iyer find their range here. Ponting and Ganguly were out in the middle talking to both the batsmen during the strategic time-out. DC needs 104 in the last 10 overs. DC 82/1 after 10 overs
◘ DC is struggling to keep up with the asking rate here as it could only manage 45 in the powerplay overs. Shaw struck a couple of meaty boundaries before the end of the sixth over off Russell and the DC bench will hope Shaw doesn't throw away this start. DC 51/1 after 7 overs
◘ ... and spin does the trick! WICKET! Dhawan lofts Chawla for a four and a six before he comes down the track and ends up mistiming it to Russell straight at mid-off. DC 27/1 after 2.4 overs
◘ Shaw and Dhawan begin confidently with both batsmen scoring boundaries. KKR introduces spin in the third over. KKR 16/0 after 2 overs
DC will have a serious chase on its hands when it comes out to bat.
◘ Kuldeep and Chawla helped themselves to a boundary each off Rabada in the final over as KKR posts a formidable total of 185 for the loss of eight wickets. KKR adds 121 in the last 60 balls much in part to the 95-run partnership between DK and Russell. Russell, in particular, seems to be the most dangerous batsman this season with 15 sixes in just three matches. Where do you bowl to this man when he is striking it so clean?
◘ Fifty for Dinesh Karthik! He slog sweeps Amit Mishra for a six before nicking a wide ball behind to Pant! Superb innings from the KKR skipper, who walked in at 3-40 in the seventh over to lead his team's revival. KKR 171/7 after 19 overs
◘ 4, 2, 4 and Russell goes for another monster hit but only ends up skying a catch to Tewatia, who managed to hold onto it despite a collision with Rabada! Phew. Delhi Capitals will be relieved that it has managed to finally dismiss Russell and also have no injuries to account for from that mishap. KKR 156/6 after 18 overs
◘ He can not only do it on a warm, summer evening at the Eden Gardens. Russell can also flex his muscle at the Kotla! FIFTY for Andre Russell off just 23 balls! He is probably in the form of his life. 49* (19), 48 (17) and he finally gets his first fifty of the tournament.
◘ My oh my! They keep bowling it in his arc and Russell keeps smacking them out of the park! Harshal with two length balls and Russell shows his disdain for them by hitting them both into the top tier of the Kotla! SIXTH SIX for Dre Russ as he moves to 47 of 22 balls. KKR 138/5 after 16 overs
◘ The last ball of the over is finally completed after the long delay and Russell shows no signs of discomfort as he tonks Morris straight over his head for another six.
◘ Chris Morris pulls up short in his bowling stride. At first glance, one would assume he was going for a 'Mankad' on the non-striker Dinesh Karthik but it isn't so. He is clutching his right ankle and is being tended to by his team physio.
Looks like Russell is in considerable pain out there. Team physio can be seen applying ice to the left shoulder and we have the strategic time out.
◘ Ouch! That would have hurt. Russell is down on the ground. A beamer from Patel hits Russell flush on the left shoulder.The team physio comes rushing to the crease... Russell is caught in the deep off the free hit. This seems the only way DC can get the Jamaican out at the moment, off a no-ball! Meanwhile, KKR has brought up its 100. KKR 101/5 after 14 overs.
◘ Dre Rus has arrived in Delhi! He muscles a tossed up delivery from Mishra over long-off for six before hammering two consecutive maximums off Lamichhane. KKR getting a much needed impetus here. KKR 90/5 after 12 overs.
◘ KKR committing harakiri at the Kotla. Shubman Gill is run out by a mile. He was guilty of ball watching even as Karthik sprinted towards the keeper's end for a third run. In the end, Lamichhane comfortably took the bails off to catch Gill short of his crease. KKR 64/5 after 10 overs.
◘ KKR is slipping at the Ferozshah Kotla as Harshal Patel and Rabada remove Nitish Rana and Lynn respectively to leave the visiting side reeling at 44/4. Dinesh Karthik and Shubman Gill are at the crease. KKR 53/4 after 8 overs.
◘ Lynn stepping foot on the gas, hits two boundaries off Chris Morris' second over as KKR continues to find the boundaries inside the Powerplay. Harshal Patel, right-arm fast medium, has been brought into the attack and he gets the breakthrough right away, traps in-form Uthappa in front as KKR loses its second wicket. KKR 36/2 after 6 overs.
◘ Sandeep Lamichhane strikes! He gets Nikhil Naik out lbw, who reviews the umpire's call to no avail as the replays show the ball crashing into the stumps. KKR loses its first wicket cheaply. Robin Uthappa is the new man in. He opens his account with a boundary. KKR 21/1 after 4 overs.
◘ Lynn has opened the innings with debutant Nikhil Naik. Naik got off the mark with a bundary off an inside edge before Lynn drove a full length delivery from Rabada through the covers for four. An expensive start from the South African seamer, KKR 12/0 after 1 over. Sandeep Lamichhane begins by bowling five dots before conceding just one. Delhi took a review. The Nepal leggie reckons Naik got an edge in the fourth ball but replays suggest otherwise. KKR 13/0 after 2 overs .
We are just moments away from the start of the second contest of the double header. Moments earlier, Kings XI Punjab thrashed Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets in Mohali thanks to an unbeaten 71 from KL Rahul. Here's how the match unfolded.
DC makes four changes to its line-up while KKR hands debut to wicket-keeper batsman Nikhil Naik.
Delhi Capitals wins the toss and elects to field. In the last match, DC skipper Shreyas Iyer opted to bat and managed to score only 147 on a slow track and he admits it was a mistake. "Since we took the wrong decision in the last game, today we want to take a look at how it plays in the first innings."
Here is what our reporter Abhishek Mukherjee has to say about today's match in New Delhi:
With his peculiar jab to the leg-side for sixes in Delhi Capitals’ first contest, Rishabh Pant became the face of the new, dynamic outfit that hopes to generate more success this season.
Having served a reality check at home earlier this week by Chennai Super Kings, the defending champion, it runs into another potent side in Kolkata Knight Riders at home, albeit with a chance to get it right this time on a pitch likely to be slow once again.
Key to doing well here is to bat smarter, Ricky Ponting, the head coach, had underlined after his team’s six-wicket defeat to Super Kings. It meant maximising the scoring in the PowerPlay, and being prepared to graft in the middle overs. It also meant executing roles well.
In that endeavour, the batting line-up will be up against a severe spin test. Kuldeep Yadav (the left-arm spinner), Sunil Narine (the off-spinner), and Piyush Chawla (the leg-spinner) will relish bowling on a pitch that is slow and offers some turn. Hitting through the line would be difficult, and negotiating deliveries that offer little pace to work with would be difficult.
Pant’s adaptability as well as perceptiveness will be tested. The flamboyant hitter likes to dominate the bowling; after having flopped against Super Kings, will he be prepared to play a knock less flashy?
In what is a boost for the side, Chris Morris is ready to play his first match this season. Morris had sizzled for Capitals (then Daredevils) in 2016, and is known to change the complexion of contests quickly. He will be another big-hitter waiting to explode in the death overs, and a fast bowler waiting to unsettle his opponents with yorkers, also at the death.
Read: Away wins critical in the IPL, says Uthappa
Meeting his match will be Andre Russell, by far the most notable performer from among Knight Riders in the competition so far. His interventions with the bat have proved decisive in both the contests it has participated in so far; in the first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he single-handedly lifted his team to victory with a 19-ball 49.
He has been handy with the ball, too, having taken four wickets so far.
Although overshadowed by Russell, Nitish Rana and Robin Uthappa have been good with the bat, too, providing handy contributions in both matches. They are among five batsmen who have scored more than 100 runs already. Though comparatively modest, their strike-rates haven’t been unimpressive either.
Also read: Kotla pitch slower than in previous years, says Morris
However, despite possessing two wins in its belt, the side doesn’t hold the edge as it plays its first game of the season away from Eden Gardens.
But if Capitals hasn’t learned its lessons from its defeat here — it lost four wickets for 29 in the final five overs as its batsmen attempted to accelerate unconvincingly — it might well spring in a surprise.
Comments
SHARE