The 16th match of the current season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 took place on Wednesday, April 3. It featured a showdown between the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat first, making an interesting change in their lineup by bringing Angkrish Raghuvanshi into the playing XI. On the other hand, their opponents had to make a substitution due to an injury, with Sumit Kumar replacing the star performer Mukesh Kumar from the previous match.
KKR’s opening pair of Phil Salt and Sunil Narine started aggressively, especially from the third over onwards, where they began to pile up runs quickly. Despite losing Salt early, Raghuvanshi, surprisingly batting at No. 3, played a remarkable innings, forming a crucial partnership with Narine.
Narine was on track for a century but fell short by 15 runs, while Raghuvanshi also departed soon after. Narine’s explosive knock of 85 runs off 39 balls and Raghuvanshi’s impressive 54 off 27 balls set the stage for a big total, further boosted by Andre Russell and Rinku Singh’s powerful hitting towards the end. Andre Russell made an impressive 41 runs off just 19 balls, showcasing his exceptional batting skills. Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer contributed 18 runs and Rinku Singh added 26 runs to the scoreboard, both playing important roles with the bat.
Thanks to their aggressive batting, they managed to score 272 runs in the first innings, which fell just five runs short of the highest team total ever recorded in IPL history. However, during the chase, DC faced a setback when they were struggling at 33/4, all credit to the formidable bowling attack of KKR. Rishabh Pant later mentioned that the team had initially planned to chase aggressively, which might have contributed to their shaky start.
DC’s batsmen wasted no time in getting into their groove and launched into their attacking game plan right from the start. This approach played into the hands of Vaibhav Arora and Mitchell Starc, who capitalized by picking up two wickets each. Some reckless shots from DC’s batsmen led to their downfall. However, the partnership between Pant and Tristan Stubbs, worth 95 runs, prevented DC from a complete collapse. Both players managed to reach their half-centuries, but it wasn’t enough to avoid a humiliating defeat at the hands of Kolkata.
The Kolkata Knight Riders are on fire in this year’s IPL. They just can’t be stopped. First, they clinched a fantastic victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens. Then, they hit the road and picked up easy wins against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals in Vizag. Fans are buzzing with excitement as KKR smashed their way to the second-highest team total ever recorded in IPL history and defeated Delhi Capitals to become the table toppers of the IPL 2024.
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