It was the same Iconic Eden Gardens of Kolkata where last Sunday the exciting final of the ICC World T20 2016 was played. Carlos Brathwaite had the last laugh when he smacked Ben Stokes for the fourth consecutive six to guide West Indies to their record second title win, however, this time, it did not end with all smiles for him. Turning for Delhi Daredevils (DD) in his first Indian Premier League (IPL), Brathwaite ended up in the losing side as home team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) trumped them by nine wickets. IPL 2016, Match 2, Pick of the tweets: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils at Kolkata
DD had a few rough seasons in their previous IPL editions and thinking it will change their fortunes, they named Zaheer Khan as their skipper and brought in Rahul Dravid as the side’s mentor. Fortunes did not change and the old story repeated as DD, who were put into bat by KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir, skittled out for 98.
It was a disciplined bowling effort from the two-time IPL champions. Despite DD getting a strong start as they were 23 for no loss after two overs, Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell initiated the slide by dismissing Quinton de Kock in the third over, followed by in-form Shreyas Iyer’s wicket. He was well supported by the other bowlers too. John Hastings made a dream IPL debut as he conceded only a run from his first over and followed that with the wicket of Karun Nair. His second over was a wicket maiden.
After the success of the seamers, the spin twin — old wily Brad Hogg and Piyush Chawla spun a web around the Delhi batters. The 45-year-old chinaman Hogg was again the pick of the bowlers as he ended with figures of 4-1-19-3. Chawla dismissed the dangerous Brathwaite and all-rounder Chris Morris.
Turning Point: Brathwaite started his IPL career with a monstrous six off the first ball he faced from Chawla. The leggie came back strong and caught him plumb later that over. Delhi were further pushed back to 67 for 6 and they did not recover from there.
98 was not going to enough and KKR got off to an ideal start. Zaheer Khan in attempt to swing the ball too much, strayed down the leg too often and KKR opener Robin Uthappa played some exquisite strokes. In the process, he also became the sixth player to score 3,000 runs in IPL. Uthappa and Gambhir added 69 for the first wicket and that sealed the game for KKR. These are two important points for KKR, who have now moved to the second position in the points table.
Brief Scores:
Delhi Daredevils 98 in 17.4 overs [Andre Russell 3-0-24-3, John Hastings 2.4-1-6-2, Brad Hogg 4-1-19-3, Piyush Chawla 4-0-21-2] lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 99 for 1 in 14.1 overs [Robin Uthappa 35(33), Gautam Gambhir 38(41)*; Amit Mishra 2-0-11-1] by 9 wickets
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