IPL 2018: Match 13, KKR vs DD - Who Said What

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) didn’t spare Gautam Gambhir’s Delhi side one bit and handed them an annihilating 71-run defeat at the Eden Gardens. It was a resounding performance from the home side on the day and the score of 200 runs was always going to be difficult to chase. Though Rishabh Pant and Glenn Maxwell threatened with a partnership they could never take the game away. However, the credit has to go to Andre Russell for his quick-fire knock with the bat which helped KKR post a good total on the board.

After losing the toss, KKR lost the wicket of Sunil Narine early but Robin Uthappa teed off in the powerplay overs even as Chris Lynn played a few shots. But the real push to the score came from Andre Russell who whacked 41 off just 12 balls with Nitish Rana who batted exceedingly well to score 59 runs off just 35 balls. Though there was a collapse in the end, the blitzkrieg in the middle overs was enough for them to get to 200 runs at the end of 20 overs. But the death overs had brought Daredevils back in the game.

The chase proved to be a tough one from the word go as the visitors lost their top 3 wickets in three overs. Pant and Maxwell then got together and had some fun in the middle as they kept their team in the game by matching the required run-rate amazingly. But Kuldeep Yadav, despite being hit for sixes, kept his cool and scalped both of them as the wheels came off soon after that. Even Narine joined the party and picked wickets to end the proceedings as KKR won the game by 71 runs.

Man of the Match, Nitish Rana said:

 It’s a good feeling as this is my first season for KKR and I wanted to perform well. Unluckily I got out on the previous two occasions, hence this was an important knock for me. This was also an important game for us as we lost the previous two matches. I get to know about the type of ball just by looking at the field, I get a fair idea about it. The other team had planned not to bowl outside off but when they bowled at my body I went for the shots and it came off. When the ball is in my range, I go ahead with the shot and I managed to do it tonight.

Kolkata Night Riders captain, Dinesh Karthik said:

(On Iyer’s dismissal) We have done a bit of planning. It was a fantastic catch from Nitish Rana. Wins keep you happy and you are slowly there. Touchwood, this is the kind of the day, where you make a move and it works. Feel good as a captain. Wrist spinners in IPL are picked for a certain purpose. We have three top quality spinners. They are standing up. It’s good to see. (When asked to rate his captaincy) You should tell me that (chuckles). It’s going well. You sleep with a lot of thoughts, you wake up with a lot of thoughts, something I’m getting used to. Need to balance those thoughts and try to separate batting from captaincy.

Delhi Daredevils captain, Gautam Gambhir said:

We have to give it to KKR, they played really well. One stage we thought they couldn’t get 170-175 but then getting to 200 was a good effort by them. We knew it was going to be a stiff chase as they have three quality spinners. I thought we tried our level best but we couldn’t execute the plans well.

Someone like Russell when he starts to take on the bowlers it’s difficult to contain him. We even tried bowling from round the wicket. We had different plans but it was difficult to execute the plans. Lot of balls we bowled into his radar. It’s important for us to win the games at home, there are about 5 of them we’re playing at home.

The next game is important for us if we can take a win. If we get a win in Bangalore the confidence will be better. We still have 10 games left and a lot of hard work to do.

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