Kolkata Knight Riders’ Shreyas Iyer plays a shot during the IPL 2024 cricket match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals at the Eden Gardens, in Kolkata on April 29, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer completed 3,000 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday. The Indian batter reached this milestone during his side’s match against Delhi Capitals at the home ground of Eden Gardens.

During the game, Iyer played another useful cameo to steer his team to a win, scoring 33 runs in 23 balls, with three fours and a six. His runs came at a strike rate of over 143.

In 110 matches, Iyer has scored 3,027 runs at an average of 32.20 and a strike rate of 126.28, with 20 fifties. His best score is 96.

Iyer first represented Delhi Capitals from 2015-2021 and joined the Knights back in 2022. In 87 matches for DC, Iyer scored 2,375 runs at an average of 31.75 and a strike rate of 123.96, with 16 half-centuries. His best score was 96 for the Capitals. For KKR, Iyer has played 23 matches, in which he has scored 652 runs at an average of 34.52 and a strike rate of 135.55, with four half-centuries. His best score is 85.

This season has been a decent one for the KKR skipper with the bat. He has scored 251 runs at an average of 41.83, with a strike rate of 137.16. His best score is 50, which is his solitary half-century.

Virat Kohli from Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) is the highest run-scorer in the league’s history, with 7,763 runs at an average of 38.43 and a strike rate of 131.02. His best score is 113*. Virat has scored eight centuries and 54 fifties.

Phil Salt’s explosive half-century put Kolkata Knight Riders back on winning ways as the host recorded an emphatic seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.

KKR rode on Varun Chakravarthy’s brilliant three-wicket haul to restrict DC to 153 before overhauling the modest target in the 17th over to post its sixth win.

Salt, let off on 15, took charge of the chase. He executed some clinical clean hitting, plundering seven fours and five sixes, primarily through cut, pull and drives, in a glorious 33-ball 68.

Quickfire knock

Salt, who collected 18 runs off the sixth over, reached his fourth 50 by hammering Khaleel Ahmed for a stunning six. He added 79 with Sunil Narine in 6.1 overs to put the home side in a commanding position.

Axar Patel claimed both the openers. Narine was caught in the deep, while Salt was played on. Rinku Singh fell cheaply, but the two Iyers, Shreyas and Venkatesh, ensured victory.

Earlier, KKR bowlers struck at regular intervals to dent DC’s progress. On their return, pacers Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora scalped three wickets even as the tourists plundered 66 runs in the PowerPlay.

Vaibhav asked some questions of the batters and captured two wickets. Prithvi Shaw was caught behind, while Shai Hope was bowled by a peach of a delivery.

Meanwhile, Starc got rid of the dangerous Jake Fraser-McGurk, who pulled one to Venkatesh Iyer at deep square-leg before Harshit Rana accounted for Abishek Porel.

Using the conditions

The crafty Varun and the accurate Narine combined well and enjoyed the slight turn on offer. The former began by taking the vital wicket of Rishabh Pant (27) and added two more to deny DC any scope of revival.

Pant (27), dropped by Harshit off Varun, could not capitalise on the ‘life’ he got on 18. The southpaw miscued another one to Shreyas at extra-cover.

Tristan Stubbs and impact player Kumar Kushagra were smartly caught by Salt, while Narine foxed Axar. Kuldeep Yadav (35 not out) utilised a reprieve to swing his bat to register his highest score and contribute some valuable runs.

Varun delights with a three-wkt. haul, while Vaibhav and Harshit scalp two wickets each

Scoreboard

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw c Salt b Arora 13 Jake Fraser-McGurk c VR Iyer b Starc 12 Abishek Porel b Harshit Rana 18 Shai Hope b Arora 6 Rishabh Pant c S Iyer b Varun 27 Axar Patel b Narine 15 Tristan Stubbs c Salt b Varun 4 Kumar Kushagra c Salt b Varun 1 Kuldeep Yadav not out 34 Rasikh Salam c S Iyer b Harshit Rana 8 Lizaad Williams not out 1 Extras: (LB-4, NB-1, W-9) 14

Total: (For 9 wickets in 20 overs) 153

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-30, 3-37, 4-68, 5-93, 6-99, 7-101, 8-111, 9-140

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Mitchell Starc 3-0-43-1, Vaibhav Arora 4-0-29-2, Harshit Rana 4-0-27-2, Sunil Narine 4-0-24-1, Varun Chakravarthy 4-0-16-3, Andre Russell 1-0-10-0.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Phil Salt b Axar 68 (33b, 7×4, 5×6), Sunil Narine c Fraser-McGurk b Axar 15 (10b, 3×4), Rinku Singh c Kuldeep b Williams 11 (11b, 1×4), Shreyas Iyer (not out) 33 (23b, 3×4, 1×6), Venkatesh Iyer (not out) 26 (23b, 2×4, 1×6)

Extras: (lb-2, nb-1, w-1): 4

Total: (for three wkts. in 16.3 overs): 157.

Fall of wickets: 1-79 (Narine, 6.1), 2-96 (Salt, 8.1), 3-100 (Rinku, 9.2).

Delhi Capitals bowling

Williams 3-0-38-1, Khaleel 3-0-28-0, Rasikh 2.3-0-30-0, Axar 4-0-25-2, Kuldeep 4-0-34-0.

Toss: DC; PoM: Varun

KKR won by seven wickets with 21 deliveries remaining.

IPL’s costliest buy Starc has been their biggest letdown and KKR would hope that the Aussie hits his stride soon after overcoming the thumb injury. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

With 250 totals becoming the norm and power-hitters pushing the limit, Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals will hope to out-bat each other in the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.

In four of the five matches at the Eden, both teams have crossed 200 and the last encounter — which witnessed Punjab Kings gather 2.33 runs per ball to post a record chase of 262 for two with eight balls to spare — underlined that no total is safe in the new-age slam-bang version of the game.

KKR, which has thrived primarily due to the success of its batters, will continue to depend on its crack opening pair of Phil Salt and Sunil Narine to make an early assault. Others, including captain Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh and Ramadeep Singh, will be keen to carry it forward.

KKR’s bowling needs attention. Narine has been impressive but he requires support from other bowlers, such as Harshit Rana, Andre Russell and Varun Chakravarthy. If Mitchell Starc, who has recovered well, returns, it will be beneficial.

Besides the destructive Jake Fraser-McGurk and skipper Rishabh Pant, DC has other capable hands, including Shai Hope, Tristan Stubbs and Axar Patel, who can go on run hunting.

Pacers Mukesh Kumar and Rasikh Dar Salam and spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar can create problems for any opposition.

After consecutive wins over Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians, DC, with ‘Prince of Kolkata’ Sourav Ganguly in its camp, will be upbeat about avenging its loss.

Teams:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Delhi Capitals: Rishabh Pant (c), David Warner, Abishek Porel, Ricky Bhui, Yash Dhull, Shai Hope, Prithvi Shaw, Tristan Stubbs, Kumar Kushagra, Swastik Chikara, Ishant Sharma, Jhye Richardson, Rasikh Dar Salam, Vicky Ostwal, Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey, Khaleel Ahmed, Sumit Kumar, Axar Patel, Gulbadin Naib, Lalit Yadav, Jake Fraser-McGurk.

Match starts: 7.30 p.m.

Sunil Narine top-scored with 85 (39b, 7×4, 7×6) as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) took apart Delhi Capitals’ (DC) bowling like cotton candy to post 272 for seven before going on to win by 106 runs at the Dr. YSR ACA-VDCA cricket stadium here on Wednesday.

Narine batted in stark contrast to his opening partner Phil Salt. With the nonchalance of, say, Deadpool or Han Solo, Narine swatted sixes and fours as if sadistically driving away mosquitoes.

On the other hand, Salt, one of the hardest hitters of the ball in modern cricket, clubbed the ball as hard as Thor would hammer anything.

While Salt hit two consecutive fours — a loft over covers and a slash past the short third man— in Ishant Sharma’s first over, Narine hit three sixes and two fours in his second. He launched a six over long off, pulled one to the deep square leg boundary, and sliced one to the extra cover boundary. Thereafter, he punished every single bowler who bowled at him.

Raghuvanshi delights

The 18-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who had begun his innings with a pull and a punch beyond the point fielder for back-to-back fours off Anrich Nortje, was methodically violent.

He was Virat Kohli-like with his cover drive and pull to the deep midwicket boundary. Yet, as if in a fit of temper, he reverse-hit Rasikh Salam for six. He hit two more sixes off Sumit Kumar and Rasikh to the deep midwicket boundary.

For the rest of the innings, KKR was in a world of funhouse mirrors as Andre Russell and Rinku Singh burned the DC ‘house of hope’ down to cinders.

In response, Capitals lost four wickets in the PowerPlay itself.

However, skipper Rishabh Pant resolutely braved on as did Sisyphus with his seemingly daunting task of rolling a boulder up a hill.

Pant (55, 25b, 4×4, 5×6), who hit four fours and two sixes off a Venkatesh Iyer over, looked like he was carrying a niggle.

Tristan Stubbs also came good for Delhi, scoring 54 off 32 balls which included four fours and two sixes each off spinners Varun Chakaravarthy and Narine.

SCOREBOARD

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

Phil Salt c Stubbs b Nortje 18 (12b, 4×4), Sunil Narine c Pant b Marsh 85 (39b, 7×4, 7×6), Angkrish Raghuvanshi c Ishant b Nortje 54 (27b, 5×4, 3×6), Andre Russell b Ishant 41 (19b, 4×4, 3×6), Shreyas Iyer c Stubbs b Khaleel 18 (11b, 2×6), Rinku Singh c Warner b Nortje 26 (8b, 1×4, 3×6), Venkatesh Iyer (not out) 5 (2b, 1×4), Ramandeep Singh c Shaw b Ishant 2 (2b), Mitchell Starc (not out) 1 (1b); Extras (b-4, lb-2, nb-1, w-15): 22; Total (for seven wkts. in 20 overs): 272.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-60 (Salt, 4.3 overs), 2-164 (Narine, 12.3), 3-176 (Raghuvanshi, 13.2), 4-232 (Shreyas, 17.2), 5-264 (Rinku, 18.6), 6-264 (Russell, 19.1), 7-266 (Ramandeep, 19.3).

CAPITALS BOWLING

Khaleel 4-0-43-1, Ishant 3-0-43-2, Nortje 4-0-59-3, Rasikh 3-0-47-0, Sumit 2-0-19-0, Axar 1-0-18-0, Marsh 3-0-37-1.

DELHI CAPITALS

David Warner b Starc 18 (13b, 2×4, 1×6), Prithvi Shaw c Varun b Vaibhav 10 (7b, 2×4), Mitchell Marsh c Ramandeep b Starc 0 (2b), Abishek Porel (Impact Player in place of Khaleel) c Narine b Vaibhav 0 (5b), Rishabh Pant c Shreyas b Varun 55 (25b, 4×4, 5×6), Tristan Stubbs c Starc b Varun 54 (32b, 4×4, 4×6), Axar Patel c sub (Pandey) b Varun 0 (1b), Sumit Kumar c sub (Pandey) b Narine 7 (6b, 1×6), Rasikh Salam c Salt b Vaibhav 1 (5b), Anrich Nortje c Shreyas b Russell 4 (6b), Ishant Sharma (not out) 1 (3b); Extras (b-4, lb-6, nb-1, w-5): 16; Total (in 17.2 overs): 166.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-21 (Shaw, 1.5), 2-26 (Marsh, 2.5), 3-27 (Porel, 3.6), 4-33 (Warner, 4.3), 5-126 (Pant, 12.2), 6-126 (Axar, 12.3), 7-159 (Stubbs, 14.5), 8-159 (Sumit, 15.1), 9-161 (Rasikh, 16.1).

KNIGHT RIDERS BOWLING

Starc 3-0-25-2, Vaibhav (Impact Player in place of Raghuvanshi) 4-0-27-3, Russell 1.2-0-14-1, Narine 4-0-29-1, Varun 4-0-33-3, Venkatesh 1-0-28-0.

Toss: KKR; PoM: Narine.

KKR won by 106 runs.

DC 87 for four

Capitals were 87 for four in 10 overs with Pant (24) and Stubbs (28) batting. Shaw (10), Warner (18), Marsh (0) and Porel (0) were back in the dugout

A view of the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Kolkata Knight Riders’ home IPL game against Rajasthan Royals was on Tuesday advanced by a day to April 16, while Gujarat Titans-Delhi Capitals fixture in Ahmedabad was also rescheduled by the BCCI which did not give any reason for the move.

The PTI on April 1 reported that the KKR-RR tie in the 2024 Indian Premier League was set to get rescheduled due to Ram Navami, but the Board did not specify any reason for the rescheduling of matches on these two dates.

“The fixture between Kolkata Knight Riders & Rajasthan Royals, which was earlier scheduled to take place on April 17, 2024 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata will now be played a day prior on April 16, 2024.

“The Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad was earlier scheduled to host the match between Gujarat Titans & Delhi Capitals on April 16, 2024. The fixture will now be played on April 17, 2024,” the BCCI said in a statement.

It was learnt that Kolkata Police expressed its inability to provide adequate security cover for what will be KKR’s third home game of the 17th IPL season, just three days after they host the Lucknow Super Giants.

West Bengal is also set to vote on April 19 in the first phase of the seven-phase general elections. The voting in Kolkata will take place on June 1.

The CAB had suggested that the match be advanced either by a day (16 April) or pushed back by 24 hours to 18 April.

KKR is currently in Visakhapatnam for a game against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday.