Kolkata Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan turned cheerleader as he applauded Sunil Narine’s sensational 39-ball-85 that was instrumental in clinching the victory for his side during the IPL 2024 match against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday. Narine provided the perfect start to the innings for KKR and along with youngster Angkrish Raghuvanshi, he stitched together a 104-run partnership that took the total to a mammoth 272/7 in 20 overs. KKR owner and Bollywood superstar SRK was in attendance and he was caught on camera applauding the explosive effort from the veteran all-rounder.
A dominant Kolkata Knight Riders produced a brilliant bowling effort after their batters’ sensational display of power-hitting as they thrashed a lacklustre Delhi Capitals by 106 runs and moved to the top of the IPL table.
Sunil Narine showcased his batting prowess with a blistering 85 while teenager Angkrish Raghuvanshi (54 off 27) impressed with a fluent fifty on his IPL batting debut as KKR posted an imposing 272/7, five runs short of the highest total in the tournament’s history.
The Capitals never looked like they were in the game be it with the ball or the bat. They crumbled under the pressure of the mammoth total.
Skipper Rishabh Pant (55) scored his second consecutive half century while Tristan Stubbs (54) too hit a fifty but it was in a lost cause as DC folded for 166 in 17.2 overs to suffer their third loss of the season.
Continuing his explosive run, Narine punished all Delhi bowlers alike, sending the ball over the boundary rope seven times. He also hit seven fours in his 39-ball stay. The Capitals were guilty of dropping him on 53 and Narine made his opponents suffer as he notched his highest-ever score in T20 cricket.
Raghuvanshi (54 off 27 balls), who didn’t get to bat in his first IPL match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, also fired on all cylinders, complementing Narine as the pair shared an explosive 104-run stand off 48 balls.
With Andre Russell (41 off 19 balls) and Rinku Singh (26 off 8 balls) also getting the big hits, batting looked like a child’s play for KKR.
With the ball, pacer Vaibhav Arora and KKR’s record buy Australian fast bowler Mitchel Starc deflated the chase in the powerplay itself, as they got rid of Delhi’s top four of Prithvi Shaw (10), Mitchell Marsh (0), Abhishek Porel (0) and David Warner (18).
Pant and Stubbs stitched a 93-run partnership, and even though they managed to score quickly, the required run rate jumped to over 20 runs per over and there was only one result possible.
Earlier, Delhi bowlers produced a forgettable performance as they conceded the highest total in the team’s history. KKR hit as many as 18 sixes and 28 fours.
