Robin Uthappa brought his fabulous form from Pune to Kolkata as his 33-ball 59 took Kolkata Knight Riders to a facile seven-wicket victory over the Delhi Daredevils at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday.
As has been the story of this season, the Daredevils lost their way after a bright start, courtesy Sanju Samson and finished on an under-par 160/6 in their 20 overs. It was never going to be enough and despite Kagiso Rabada dismantling pinch-hitter opener Sunil Narine’s stumps in the second over, Uthappa got a reprieve (just like he had in the match in Pune) and blitzed away in tandem with Gautam Gambhir. The two put on a 108 in just 66 balls and despite Uthappa’s wicket, that partnership proved enough for KKR to cruise home by seven wickets.
Narine spoils Delhi’s start
Nathan Coulter-Nile came back into the attack and his first over was fiery and pacy. But Karun Nair and Sanju Samson stuck into the bowling and Delhi rocketed to 41/0 off four overs. What did Gambhir do? He went back to the basics and went to his usual weapon in a crisis: Sunil Narine. And yet again Narine delivered, pinning Karun Nair in front of his stumps for Delhi’s first wicket.
KKR apply the squeeze
Despite their good start, Delhi were floundering in the middle overs. Between overs 3.2 and 11.1, not a single boundary came off the bat. The Daredevils’ run rate, which had hovered over 10, steadily dipped to eight as they scored only 25 in the next four overs after racing to 41 in the first four. Kuldeep Yadav and Narine had applied an effective squeeze.
Coulter-Nile reigns supreme
Nathan Coulter-Nile’s pace is proving to be an under-rated weapon for KKR this season. It accounted for RCB and while Delhi played him out in the Powerplay this match, Coulter-Nile responded with a vengeance when he was brought back at the death in the 16th over. A toe-crushing yorker had Rishabh Pant out adjudged lbw, and then a follow-up straight delivery dismissed Shreyas Iyer.
Thanks to that double-wicket over, Delhi froze and scored only 14 runs in their next three overs. Coulter-Nile came back to bowl the last over and conceded just six off the over with a wicket, finishing with figures of 3/34. Delhi finished on 160/6.
Rabada brings Narine down to earth
Sure, Sunil Narine has been swinging for the hills this season but ultimately he’s a tail-ender. Against a fully fired up Kagiso Rabada, he didn’t have much of a chance. The SA pacer delivered a missile, full and straight and Narine was late on it. The stumps went for a toss. Narine had been brought down to earth. He came back again later in the innings to dismantle Manish Pandey’s stumps with a similar delivery. A fighting effort in a losing cause.
You! No, you?! No you...
If anything could symbolise Delhi’s season so far, it’s the image above.
Robin Uthappa got a top-edge. It fell between Amit Mishra and Sanju Samson on the leg-side. Both expected each other to go for it. None of them did.
Uthappa carries on
Same old...same old. Uthappa looked a little edgy in his first 12 balls, just like he did against Pune in the last match. Yet again he was dropped. And yet again, he made use of it with his dazzling array of strokes. It’s becoming so predictable that it’s becoming eerie. The fifty came off just 24 balls. He was finally dismissed thanks to a bullet direct hit from Karun Nair for a 33-ball 58 but had already done what was needed.
Gambhir the finisher
The captain Gautam Gambhir joined hands with Uthappa to get yet another fifty this IPL (his fourth this season) and also cross the 6000 run mark in Twenty20 cricket. Intriguingly, he’s now remained unbeaten in three of those fifty-plus scores. Showing that he can play second fiddle to Uthappa but he’s slowly building into a perfect finisher for KKR.
Brief scores:
Delhi Daredevils 160/6 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 60, Shreyas Iyer 47; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3/34, Sunil Narine 1/25) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 161/3 in 16.2 overs (Gautam Gambhir 71 not out, Robin Uthappa 59; Kagiso Rabada 2/20, Zaheer Khan 0/8) by seven wickets
