Kolkata Knight Riders created history by posting a mammoth total of 272/7 in the IPL 2024 match against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday. Sunil Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi were the star performers while Andre Russell was again at his explosive best as the KKR batters made short work of the DC bowling attack. Although KKR failed to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad’s all-time highest IPL score – 277/3 – it was the highest total by any side away from home in the IPL.
Highest score by an IPL team in an away match –
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals – IPL 2024 (Vizag) – 272/7
Lucknow Super Giants vs Punjab Kings – IPL 2023 (Mohali) – 257/5
Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad – IPL 2024 (Hyderabad) – 246/5
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings – IPL 2018 (Indore) – 245/6
Chennai Super Kings vs Punjab Kings – IPL 2008 (Mohali) – 240/5
KKR’s huge target of 273 proved too much for the DC as they gave in to pressure and ultimately suffered a 106-run defeat.
The pace duo of Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora took two wickets each to reduce DC to 33/4 in the powerplay.
The early blow derailed DC’s approach to chasing down the huge total, which became more challenging with every delivery.
Skipper Rishabh Pant (55) and Tristan Stubbs (54) bought a 93-run stand with effortless power hitting and gave the home fans something to cheer about. ‘
Pant scored back-to-back half-centuries in the IPL, showing signs of returning to his best form.
But after Pant’s dismissal, the writing was on the wall for DC as they ended up losing the match by a huge margin of 106 runs.
KKR marched to the top of the table with their third consecutive win of the campaign.
Earlier in the innings, the ‘City of Destiny’ witnessed two hours of carnage, two hours of brutal ball attacks and 120 minutes of torture for the Delhi Capitals (DC) bowlers like Narine (85), Raghuvanshi (54), Russell (41) and Rinku Singh’s brutal bashing helped KKR come within touching distance of surpassing the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) score of 277, but Kolkata finished with the second-highest total in the IPL ever.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, KKR got off to a heady start with a fiery partnership between Philip Salt and Sunil Narine. Having failed to score a single run in Khaleel Ahmed’s first over, Salt hammered Ishant Sharma for two successive boundaries.
Both KKR openers finally saw through Khaleel Ahmed’s trend of keeping his deliveries furthest from the wicket. Narine launched an attack during Ishant’s second over and punished the DC bowler immensely as he scored 26 runs in the over.
Salt’s innings came to an end after he was dismissed at one and was caught at second, having been dismissed by Anrich Nortje, following a phenomenal catch from behind from Tristan Stubbs.
DC bowlers continued to miss the target against Narine and the opener completed his second fifty of IPL 2024 inside just 21 balls. However, Nortje gave DC a huge breakthrough by removing Salt for 18, but it was Narine who caught everyone’s attention with an explosive fifty.
Narine with his batting fireworks that witnessed the side complete their 100-run milestone inside just 7.3 overs in the match looked destructive at the crease alongside Raghuvanshi.
Mitchell Marsh came into attack to stop KKR’s attack, while Narine and Raghuvanshi opted for a more controlled approach to look through the over.
18-year-old Raghuvanshi can’t stop impressing the cricket fraternity as he topped up his impressive performance in the match with a sensational reverse six. The youngster went on to hit his maiden IPL half-century with Narine in a destructive mood at the other end. The duo completed their 100-run partnership with considerable ease.
A phenomenal Narine innings came to an end, much to the relief of the DC bowling unit until Marsh got the big wicket. Narine returned to the pavilion after scoring 85 from just 39 balls. Nortje sent Raghuvanshi packing.
Raghuvanshi was superb on debut, producing a stunning performance of 54 off 27, but his fine knock came to an end when he was sent packing by Nortje in the 13.2 over.
Just 15 overs into the match, KKR crossed the 200 mark. In the penultimate over of the match, Rinku Singh Nortje smoked three maximums and one four before losing his wicket to a mistimed shot.
A superb yorker from Ishant dismissed Russell and rattled the wickets at a fiery pace. During the same period, he removed Ramandeep Singh, ending KKR’s dominant performance, restricting Kolkata to 272/7.
With ANI inputs
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