In a Nutshell
The first few overs with the ball were all that went our way on a night that DD would like to forget. The Kolkata batsmen hammered our bowlers all around the park to get to a total of 200/9 in their 20 overs.
In the second innings, we lost a few early wickets. Rishabh Pant and Glenn Maxwell played brilliantly as they notched up scores of 43 and 47 respectively. It could have been a different story had they managed to stay at the crease for a little longer, but it wasn’t to be.
Great Start Goes in Vain
Trent Boult, like he so often does, started off brilliantly with the new ball. Chris Lynn, as he seldom does, faced a maiden over first up. The pair of Lynn and Narine, known for their explosive starts, managed only 7 runs off the first two overs. Boult’s first 10 deliveries included 9 dots and a wicket. Considering the way modern T20 cricket is played, that was a scarcely believable start. However, we couldn’t capitalise on our start with the ball.
Kolkata ended up with a pretty good powerplay score at 50/1, courtesy of some counter-attacking stroke play from Robin Uthappa. Uthappa couldn’t make the most of the reprieve he had off Tewatia’s bowling and fell to Nadeem in the next over. He had done his job though, getting Kolkata out of early trouble and getting the run-rate back on track with a 19-ball 35.
Chris Lynn looked out of sorts on the night. He was dismissed for 31 off 29 after Roy took a difficult catch down low, running in from long-on. Opposition skipper Dinesh Karthik was surely disappointed with the manner of his dismissal, holing out at deep mid-wicket.
Then, Andre Russell walked in and did Andre Russell things, smashing three of his first five balls into the stands. Unfortunately for us, it didn’t stop there. He had faced 11 balls and hit 6 of them for sixes until Boult landed a perfect yorker to castle him. Without a doubt, he was the pick of the bowlers for us. He went at 7.25 runs an over on a night when none of the other fast bowlers went for below 10.
All this while, Nitish Rana (59 off 35) was playing some beautiful cricket shots on both sides of the wicket. He departed in the penultimate over trying to up the ante. Surprisingly, the leg-spinner, Tewatia turned up to bowl the final over. He did an excellent job of it, picking up three wickets and giving away only 1 run. Nevertheless, KKR ended up with an even 200, a stiff target to chase.
The Batting Falls Apart
In a big chase, it wasn’t the start the DD fans were hoping for. Jason Roy couldn’t repeat his heroics from the previous game and was stumped off a Piyush Chawla delivery. Shreyas Iyer and Gambhir too departed soon after.
We were at 24/3 after 3 overs. Despite the loss of wickets, Rishabh Pant was getting into his zone with a flurry of boundaries. In terms of runs, it was good powerplay for us with 56 runs. Overs 7 and 8 produced 25 runs with Maxwell finding his touch as well. Rishabh Pant can consider himself unlucky. He absolutely nailed one right out of the middle of his bat and straight into deep mid-wicket’s throat. He was dismissed for 43 off 26 balls.
Halfway through the innings, we’d already lost half our side and scored only about half the runs required. In the 11th over, we lost Maxwell for 47 off 22. After Maxwell’s departure, our batting fell apart like a pack of cards as we lost five wickets for 16 runs to hand the Kolkata Knight Riders a 71-run victory.
It wasn’t a performance the squad will be proud of. It’s a four-day break before our next game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. They will certainly take a hard look at themselves and work on the aspects of their game that require improvement.
Brief Scores: KKR 200/9 in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 59 off 35, Andre Russell 41 off 12, Rahul Tewatia 3/18, Trent Boult 2/29); DD 129/10 (Glenn Maxwell 47 off 22, Rishabh Pant 43 off 26, Sunil Narine 3/18, Kuldeep Yadav 3/32)
In a Nutshell
The first few overs with the ball were all that went our way on a night that DD would like to forget. The Kolkata batsmen hammered our bowlers all around the park to get to a total of 200/9 in their 20 overs.
In the second innings, we lost a few early wickets. Rishabh Pant and Glenn Maxwell played brilliantly as they notched up scores of 43 and 47 respectively. It could have been a different story had they managed to stay at the crease for a little longer, but it wasn’t to be.
Great Start Goes in Vain
Trent Boult, like he so often does, started off brilliantly with the new ball. Chris Lynn, as he seldom does, faced a maiden over first up. The pair of Lynn and Narine, known for their explosive starts, managed only 7 runs off the first two overs. Boult’s first 10 deliveries included 9 dots and a wicket. Considering the way modern T20 cricket is played, that was a scarcely believable start. However, we couldn’t capitalise on our start with the ball.
Kolkata ended up with a pretty good powerplay score at 50/1, courtesy of some counter-attacking stroke play from Robin Uthappa. Uthappa couldn’t make the most of the reprieve he had off Tewatia’s bowling and fell to Nadeem in the next over. He had done his job though, getting Kolkata out of early trouble and getting the run-rate back on track with a 19-ball 35.
Chris Lynn looked out of sorts on the night. He was dismissed for 31 off 29 after Roy took a difficult catch down low, running in from long-on. Opposition skipper Dinesh Karthik was surely disappointed with the manner of his dismissal, holing out at deep mid-wicket.
Then, Andre Russell walked in and did Andre Russell things, smashing three of his first five balls into the stands. Unfortunately for us, it didn’t stop there. He had faced 11 balls and hit 6 of them for sixes until Boult landed a perfect yorker to castle him. Without a doubt, he was the pick of the bowlers for us. He went at 7.25 runs an over on a night when none of the other fast bowlers went for below 10.
All this while, Nitish Rana (59 off 35) was playing some beautiful cricket shots on both sides of the wicket. He departed in the penultimate over trying to up the ante. Surprisingly, the leg-spinner, Tewatia turned up to bowl the final over. He did an excellent job of it, picking up three wickets and giving away only 1 run. Nevertheless, KKR ended up with an even 200, a stiff target to chase.
The Batting Falls Apart
In a big chase, it wasn’t the start the DD fans were hoping for. Jason Roy couldn’t repeat his heroics from the previous game and was stumped off a Piyush Chawla delivery. Shreyas Iyer and Gambhir too departed soon after.
We were at 24/3 after 3 overs. Despite the loss of wickets, Rishabh Pant was getting into his zone with a flurry of boundaries. In terms of runs, it was good powerplay for us with 56 runs. Overs 7 and 8 produced 25 runs with Maxwell finding his touch as well. Rishabh Pant can consider himself unlucky. He absolutely nailed one right out of the middle of his bat and straight into deep mid-wicket’s throat. He was dismissed for 43 off 26 balls.
Halfway through the innings, we’d already lost half our side and scored only about half the runs required. In the 11th over, we lost Maxwell for 47 off 22. After Maxwell’s departure, our batting fell apart like a pack of cards as we lost five wickets for 16 runs to hand the Kolkata Knight Riders a 71-run victory.
It wasn’t a performance the squad will be proud of. It’s a four-day break before our next game against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. They will certainly take a hard look at themselves and work on the aspects of their game that require improvement.
Brief Scores: KKR 200/9 in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 59 off 35, Andre Russell 41 off 12, Rahul Tewatia 3/18, Trent Boult 2/29); DD 129/10 (Glenn Maxwell 47 off 22, Rishabh Pant 43 off 26, Sunil Narine 3/18, Kuldeep Yadav 3/32)
