KKR’s left-arm spinner Anukul Roy credits WI all-rounder Sunil’s (3-29) dismissals at the back end for turning the game against DC in their favour, leading to 14-run win
KKR’s Sunil Narine (centre) celebrates the dismissal of DC opener Faf du Plessis with teammates Rinku Singh (right) and wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz in New Delhi on Tuesday. Pic/AFP
Kolkata Knight Riders’s opener and right-arm off-spinner Sunil Narine scalped three crucial Delhi Capitals wickets — Faf du Plessis, Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs — in his quota of four overs and gave away just 29 runs. He also scored 27 runs off 16 balls in an all-round show that helped KKR hand hosts DC their fourth loss in 10 matches, relegating them to fourth position.
Helpful surface for spinners
In fact, not just Narine, the slow surface also helped KKR’s spinners Anukul Roy (1-27), Varun Chakravarthy (2-39) and Narine (3-29), who ensured DC could not get a big partnership going during their chase of 204 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Tuesday. DC managed only 190-9 and KKR won by 14 runs. For DC, du Plessis top-scored with 62 off 45, hitting seven fours and two sixes. Skipper Axar also did well, scoring 43 off 23. Middle-order batsman Vipraj Nigam addded a valuable 38 off 19 giving them a sliver of hope, but after he lost his stumps to Andre Russell, none of the late middle-order batters could fire for DC.
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Anukul Roy
Speaking after the match, KKR’s left-arm spinner Anukul said, “[The] wicket was good for batting. We were practising on similar wickets in Kolkata and had an idea about where to bowl and how. It was mostly a batter’s wicket. I’m getting a lot of help from seniors like Narine and Chakravarthy. Moeen Ali has been working with me a lot and it has helped.”
Roy hailed Narine for turning the game on its head with his bowling. “The DC batters were initially batting very well, but Narine came and took quick wickets. We got charged up and the team came back into the game,” said the left-arm spinner.
Nigam on target too
DC’s leg-spinner Nigam, who bagged two wickets for 41 runs in four overs and was DC’s third-highest scorer, said, “Our plan was to target their main two spinners and we did so, it’s not easy to come [in] and hit such quality bowlers. If set players had continued, it would have been a different
story.”
Nigam added: “We tried to take the match to the last ball, but the result was not in our favour. In ther IPL, ups and downs keep coming. The main thing is how strong you are mentally, and the role of the team management, coaches etc, is very vital too. They have always backed me. I spoke to the senior players as well — they said, ‘we will continue to play the way we did at the start of the tournament,’ and not get too worried about these losses.”
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