IPL 2025
Sunil Narine took 3 wickets and effected a crucial run-out of KL Rahul. © BCCI
Sunil Narine’s exceptional all-round effort brought down Delhi Capitals in a thrilling finish at the national capital to keep KKR alive in IPL 2025. Faf du Plessis (62 off 45), Axar Patel (43 off 23) and Vipraj Nigam (38 off 19) did their bit to keep DC afloat in chase of KKR’s 204/9 but timely dents from Narine meant DC ended 14 short. Besides dismissing two of DC’s three best batters on the evening as well as Tristan Stubbs, Narine was also involved in running out KL Rahul and taking a catch to dismiss Ashutosh Sharma.
Where the game was won?
Very little separated the two sides in two of the three phases of the game, but DC perhaps conceded a few too many in the PowerPlay that set KKR up for a big total. They got past 200 despite tripping up at the death. DC could not enjoy such a cushion at the end.
The PowerPlay difference
Parameters KKR DC Score 79/1 58/2 Run-rate 13.16 9.67 4s/6s 10/4 8/1
Kolkata Knight Riders
PowerPlay: Fiery top-three and a 25-run over
Phase score – 79/1 [RR: 13.16, 4s/6s: 10/4]
KKR’s openers put on their best stand of the season – worth 48 runs – as they flew off the blocks. Gurbaz hit two fours and played out four dots in the opening over from Mitchell Starc before Narine tore into Dushmantha Chameera in the second over with two sixes and a four. Gurbaz hit the second four to cap off the 25-run over. Starc then came in for disdainful treatment from the duo. Gurbaz enjoyed a stroke of luck as a slower short ball flew off his glove over the keeper’s head. He hit another four and a six but Starc halted the frenzy with the wicket of the Afghanistan batter. KKR’s 50 came up in just the fourth over, pushing Axar Patel to give Starc his third over inside the PowerPlay. That backfired as Ajinkya Rahane punished the left-arm quick with a pull for a six over deep square leg and flick through mid-wicket. The KKR captain then punished width outside the off-stump from Mukesh Kumar to take KKR to 79/1 in the PowerPlay. Incredibly, 64 of those came in fours and sixes.
Middle-overs: Spin breaks progress; Rinku restores with 17-run over
Phase score – 80/3 [RR: 8.89, 4s/6s: 7/3]
DC’s plan to claw back through spin was set in motion by Vipraj Nigam, who trapped Narine leg before with a fullish delivery at 97.5 kmph. Axar Patel joined in as he got his opposite number leg before in the very next over and then took out Venkatesh Iyer for another low score to leave KKR four down. Wedged between these two dismissals were two pristine sixes from Angkrish Raghuvanshi that took KKR past the 100-run mark. He and Rinku Singh came together to pick up the pieces while Axar bowled out for 2 for 27 and Kuldeep Yadav bowled a one-run over. They still got runs off the two to maintain a scoring rate close to 10-an-over. On the other side of the time out, Rinku tipped it further as he picked up 17 off a Kuldeep over, hitting him for two fours and a big six.
Death-overs: A bit of crash and burn
Phase score – 45/5 [RR: 9.00, 4s/6s: 4/1]
Axar trusted Nigam to bowl two overs of spin at the death and the wily leggie came through. He conceded 9 in the 16th and 6 in the 18th while also dismissing Rinku on 36 off 25. Chameera bounced back tremendously from his 25-run over in the PowerPlay, by giving away only 7 runs and dismissing Raghuvanshi in the 17th. But he ran into Andre Russell in the 19th and gave away 13. The 20th over from Starc began with a straight six from Russell but the Aussie bounced back exceptionally. Only three more runs were possible while three wickets fell off successive deliveries. KKR still managed to go past the 200-run mark.
Delhi Capitals
PowerPlay: Du Plessis pushes on after two early wickets
Phase score – 58/2 [RR: 9.67, 4s/6s: 8/1]
Rahane threw a curveball at Abishek Porel by starting with the left-arm spin of Anukul Roy and reaped instant dividends. Porel got a four on the first ball but miscued a big shot on the second and fell. Faf du Plessis then took charge, hitting Vaibhav Arora for a straight six and then hitting three boundaries off Harshit Rana in the fourth over. Arora sent Karun Nair packing on an LBW call via a review, but du Plessis continued to dominate the bowling by targeting the straight boundary. Varun CV started well, but Du Plessis had the rub of the green as a streaky four came off byes in the last over of the PowerPlay. KL Rahul got going with a four against the spinner too, beating Narine at short fine.
Middle-overs: DC on track but Narine dents chase with double-wicket over
Phase score – 88/3 [RR: 9.78, 4s/6s: 7/4]
Narine swung into action from the same spot in just the next over, as a sharp piece of fielding and throw caught Rahul short of a run that he called for. Axar Patel, who’d left the field towards the end of KKR’s innings after hurting himself on the field, walked out at No.5 to forge a crucial stand with du Plessis. The South African hit Narine for a six over long-on and then laid into Varun in the ninth over with two fours and a six. While he reached a 31-ball half-century in the 11th over, Axar threw his bat around while still wincing in pain. He got a couple of boundaries off Andre Russell and took runs off Varun as well as Narine before falling to the West Indian spinner for a 23-ball 43 – his best score of the season. Narine then dented DC by cleaning up Tristan Stubbs in the same over. Roy then wrapped up his four-over spell with figures of 1/27, leaving the hosts to get 59 off 30 balls.
Death-overs: Narine, Varun turn the tables
Phase score – 44/4 [RR: 8.80, 4s/6s: 4/3]
Narine continued to poke holes in DC’s chase as he bowled a fabulous over at the death worth only two runs – dismissing du Plessis and keeping impact substitute Ashutosh Sharma grounded in it. Ashutosh smashed a six off Harshit in the 17th over to keep KKR on their toes before Varun came in, in the 18th to take the wind out of DC’s sails. Ashutosh found Narine with his switch hit to depart and Starc skied the first ball to Gurbaz just in front of the stumps. Nigam finished that over with a six and tried to revive DC still with a four and six off Rana in the 19th over. But with 25 to defend in the last over, Russell nailed his full deliveries to catch the chasing side short.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 204/9 in 20 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 44, Rinku Singh 36; Mitchell Starc 3-43, Axar Patel 2-27) Delhi Capitals 190/9 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 62, Axar Patel 43; Sunil Narine 3-27, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-29) by 14 runs
What next?
DC have a five-day break before playing SRH in Hyderabad on May 5. KKR return home where they host fellow resurgent side RR in the afternoon fixture on May 3.
© Cricbuzz
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