In their IPL 2024 match in Vizag on Wednesday, Kolkata Knight Riders inflicted a crushing defeat on Delhi Capitals. The visitors posted a mammoth 272/7 in their 20 overs. DC's bowlers had no answers as KKR ruthlessly punished them for two hours to post the second-highest team total in the history of the league.
Sunil Narine's blistering 85 off 39 balls, packed with seven fours and seven sixes, ignited Kolkata's blistering start. The innings was Narine's highest-ever T20 score. Meanwhile, 18-year-old debutant Angkrish Raghuvanshi smashed 54 off 27 balls, his five fours and three sixes making him look more like a seasoned IPL veteran than a rookie.
After the match, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting was blunt in his criticism of his team:
“We played bad cricket in the first innings, as we conceded runs and 17 wides. It isn’t very comfortable. Even worse was that we took two hours to bowl our overs, leaving us two overs behind schedule again. This forced the bowlers in the last two overs to have four fielders outside the circle, an unfavourable scenario. It is difficult to assess the team’s overall performance at the moment.”
In the first innings, DC's bowlers lost control as KKR's batsmen displayed aggressive power-hitting. Anrich Nortje conceded 59 runs despite taking three wickets. Khaleel Ahmed and Ishant Sharma gave away 43 runs while Rasikh Salam gave away 47 runs.
DC's poor bowling performance allowed KKR to hit a record number of sixes in a single innings in IPL history with a total of 18. KKR's previous record was 17 against CSK in Chennai in 2018.
Delhi Capitals were bowled out for 166 in 17.2 overs, falling short by 106 runs despite half-centuries from Rishabh Pant (55) and Tristan Stubbs (54). Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers Vaibhav Arora and Varun Chakravarthy picked up three wickets apiece.