Kolkata Knight Riders won their third match on a trot in the tenth season of the Indian Premier League, recording a tense four-wicket win over the Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Monday. Having decided to bat first, Delhi rode on two breezy knocks from Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant to post 168/7 in their 20 overs. The Knight Riders got off to a poor start in response, stumbling to 21/3 before Yusuf Pathan and Manish Pandey took over the reins with a 110-run partnership. Pathan was dismissed but Pandey stayed and took KKR over the line in a tense final over where KKR almost looked they would throw it away.
Nadeem dropped, Shami comes in
Twenty-seven-year-old Shahbaz Nadeem was the highest wicket-taker in the 2016-’17 Ranji Trophy and started off the tenth season of the Indian Premier League in similar style. In Delhi’s first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Nadeem gave away only 1/13 in his four overs and followed it up with 1/23 in the next match against Pune. He even opened the bowling for Delhi in their third match against Punjab and accounted for the wickets of Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha.
However, Zaheer Khan reckoned that the surface for the match against Kolkata was firm and hence Nadeem went out for Mohammed Shami, one of India’s best pace bowlers, to come in. Unfortunately, the gambit didn’t quite work out as Shami failed to take a single wicket and was carted for 28 runs in his quota of four overs.
Delhi’s blazing start
In 41 degree Celsius heat, Delhi Daredevils’ openers turned on some heat of their own. Sanju Samson and Sam Billings tore into the Kolkata Knight Riders’ opening bowlers, plundering 36 runs in the first three overs. Samson in particular, stood out with some gorgeous cricketing shots. It was left to KKR’s spinners, Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav, who were left to get things back in order but Delhi still managed to get 53/0 in the first Powerplay.
Karun Nair drains Delhi’s momentum
Under pressure for his poor form following that epic triple century, Karun Nair played a strange knock. Delhi’s swift start was stopped by the loss of their openers and Nair compounded their woes in a 27-ball 21 which had only a single four in it and ten dots. He was finally let out of his misery when Nathan Coulter-Nile destroyed his stumps off a full toss. Just not the sort of innings your team would want.
Pant on fire
Rishabh Pant. What a special talent. Umesh Yadav’s fourth over and the 17th overall, went something like this. Dot, Six, Four, Six, Six, Four. Rishabh Pant used power, grace, wrists, width...you name it, he had it. The over went for an extraordinary 26 runs. Pant went two overs later for a 16-ball 38 but by then, had done the job required of him.
Bad luck and KKR’s fielding cost Coulter-Nile
Australian pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile had a satisfactory debut for KKR, finishing with figures of 3/22 in his four overs. But, on a luckier day, he would have got a five-for. Coulter-Nile’s last over saw him get Pant’s wicket, but then see Umesh Yadav and Gautam Gambhir drop Chris Morris with two contrasting chances. Off the last ball, Morris went for a wild heave, missed and the ball hit leg stump. Except the bails didn’t come off!
No opening joy for KKR this time
Kolkata have had fun with their opening combo this season, giving first Chris Lynn and then Sunil Narine a go at the top of the order, alongside Gautam Gambhir. They sent out Kiwi big hitter Colin de Grandhomme but unfortunately, they had no luck this time: Zaheer Khan, the ever canny operator, had De Grandhomme holing out to deep mid-wicket on the very first over. It became worse for KKR as Rishabh Pant took a blinder behind the stumps to dismiss Robin Uthappa next over. Khan came back next over to get Gambhir and Kolkata were 21/3 after just 16 balls.
Yusuf’s fire
When KKR were fielding, Yusuf Pathan was miked up and told the commentators that his role in the team wasn’t just to go in and bash everything, it was also to play all 20 overs if required. The burly 34-year-old got that opportunity quickly, walking in with with Kolkata at a precarious 21/3. But he lived up to his words, not looking to get on the front foot immediately but taking his time and building a partnership with Manish Pandey at the other end. Not that he wasn’t completely quiet, his 31-ball half-century was studded with five boundaries and two big sixes.
Pandey’s ice
Manish Pandey is fast garnering a reputation as the best man for a crisis. Here again, he responsibly linked up with Pathan in a clever partnership. Pandey mixed deft touches with the occasional big shot in his 49-ball 69, and his partnership with Yusuf Pathan totalled 110 runs in just 72 balls, taking KKR out of crisis and on the road to their third win on the trot. Pandey also went past captain Gautam Gambhir with his effort and is the new Orange Cap holder in IPL 2017.
But his best contribution came in a tense last over where KKR looked they would throw away a certain win. Needing 9 to win in the last over, Amit Mishra bowled a dot and then had Chris Woakes out stumped. Narine gave Pandey a single and Pandey then slammed a six and then a two to take KKR to a win.
Mishra almost steals it, but Pandey responds
Amit Mishra almost stole it for Delhi. With nine runs required in the last over, his first two balls were dots with the second getting Woakes’s wicket. The third was a single. With 8 needed off 3 balls, Pandey slammed Mishra for a six and then took two to seal the win.
Brief scores:
Delhi Daredevils 168/7 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 39, Rishabh Pant 38; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3/22, Sunil Narine 1/20) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 169/6 in 19.5 overs (Manish Pandey 69 not out, Yusuf Pathan 59; Zaheer Khan 2/28, Pat Cummins 2/39) by four wickets.
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