Sunil Narine star as KKR becomes King in Delhi

by Kheltoday · Published April 30, 2025 · Updated April 30, 2025

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Delhi Capitals, lost the match by 14 runs, will look to make a comeback against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next IPL 2025 match away from home on May 5

Rakesh Thapliyal

New Delhi: Delhi Capitals on Tuesday suffered another defeat as Kolkata Knight Riders won by 14 runs in IPL 2025 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Kolkata Knight Riders clashed against the Delhi Capitals, in an all-important match with an aim to pick up crucial two points and speed up their journey towards the playoffs. After their rain-hit last game ended in a no result and they got the success.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi 44 (32b, 3×4, 2×6), Rinku Singh 36 (25b, 3×4,1×6) and Sunil Narine 3/29 were star performers for Kolkata Knight Riders.

KKR’s regular captain Ajinkya Rahane was injured in the 12th over of the match. After this Sunil Narine took charge. Rahane’s hand was badly injured, but Narine started assuming the responsibility of the team without any noise.

when score was 130/3 in 13 overs Narine’s trick changed the match. Only 75 runs were required to win and the captain Axar Patel (43) and Faf du Plessis (59) were at the crease. But in the 14th over, Narine decided to bowl himself, and the match overturned from here. In the first over, Narine sent Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs to the pavilion. Then in the 16th over, Narine took the wicket of Faf du Plessis, Narine turned Delhi’s expectations. He took 3 wickets for 29 runs in 4 overs and became the Player of the Match.

After being put into bat, KKR scored 204/9 in 20 overs with the help of Angkrish Raghuvanshi 44 (32b, 3×4, 2×6) and Rinku Singh 36(25b, 3×4,1×6).

Delhi Capitals’ fast bowler Mitchell Starc took three wickets and two spinners, Axar Patel and Vipraj Nigam got two wickets each.

In reply, Delhi Capitals managed to get to 190/9 in 20 overs. Faf du Plessis (62 off 45), skipper Axar Patel (43 off 23) and Vipraj Nigam (38 off 19) put up an impressive show with the bat but the side couldn’t get over the line.

KKR spinners Sunil Narine (3/29 in 4 overs) and Varun (2/39 in 4 overs) proved too hot to handle.

The Axar Patel-led side who are placed at number four in the points table will now play Sunrisers Hyderabad in the next fixture away from home and will look to get back to winning ways.

KKR started off the defense with an interesting ploy of opening the bowling with Anukul Roy and the move paid dividends in the first over itself. He picked up Abhishek Porel’s wicket and gave KKR the much needed momentum. The bowlers were able to pick up three wickets in the powerplay which didn’t allow DC to take advantage of the powerplay. KKR looked to maximise their dominance, however a fighting partnership between DC skipper Axar Patel and Faf du Plessis helped the Capitals take big strides towards the total. Their partnership made it look like DC were cruising through to a victory. But as he has done for years, Sunil Narine turned the game around KKR as he picked up the all important wicket of Du Plessis. From there, the KKR bowlers derailed DC’s run-chase resulting in a comprehensive victory for KKR. An all-round team effort ensured that KKR pick up the crucial points and keep moving in their quest to the playoffs.

Earlier, KKR had a rollicking start to their innings after being put into bat first by DC. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sunil Narine started the attack right from the outset and put on a lot of pressure on the DC bowlers. Narine took full toll of the powerplay as he smashed the pacers while Gurbaz didn’t let any bowlers settle. KKR raced to a fifty in just 3 overs and despite losing the wicket of Gurbaz, skipper Ajinkya Rahane came in with the same fiery intent. Both Narine and Rahane allowed no respite to DC bowlers as KKR ended the powerplay with 79 runs on the board. The Capitals were able to come back in the game with three quick wickets as they aimed to get back into the game. Angkrish Raghuvanshi alongside Rinku Singh, stabilized the innings after the collapse, as they kept rotating the strike and punishing the bad balls. Both played the spinners beautifully as they kept the scoreboard ticking. However, both departed in order to accelerate the innings. Birthday boy Andre Russell smashed a few imperious shots in the end as KKR ended with a score of 204 at the end of innings.

Reflecting on the match, Vipraj Nigam during the post-match presser said, “Our plan from the start was to target their main two spinners (during the chase) and we did that. Unfortunately, there were some instances where we missed out on the right shot selection and that can happen.”Asked about the decision of bowling first after winning the toss, the spinner added, “We expected that dew will play some role in the later stage of the game and that’s why we opted to bowl first but that didn’t happen. The wicket was pretty good. They scored 200+ in the first innings and then we put on 190 in the second, so overall, it was a good track to bat on.”

Talking about his journey in the competition so far and his bond with senior players in the team, Vipraj said, “Cricket is a journey where there are always ups and downs. But the main thing is how strong you are and how strong your mindset is, how is your team’s environment, your management, and senior players.”

“Their role is very important in this. I’m pretty lucky that I have always got that backing. I have had conversations with Axar bhai, KL (Rahul) bhai and other senior players as well. They have shown a lot of support,” he added.

The youngster also mentioned about the kind of friendship that he shares with Kuldeep Yadav. “We play together in the domestic circuit and share a very good bond. I even had some good chats before the IPL as well. So, it’s great to have someone like him around,” Vipraj concluded.

Score:

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: 204 for 9 in 20 overs
Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Porel b
Starc 26 (12b, 5×4, 1×6), Sunil
Narine lbw b Vipraj 27 (16b, 2×4,
2×6), Ajinkya Rahane lbw b Axar
26 (14b, 4×4, 1×6), Angkrish
Raghuvanshi c Karun b Chameera
44 (32b, 3×4, 2×6), Venkatesh Iyer
c Vipraj b Axar 7 (5b, 1×4), Rinku
Singh c Starc b Vipraj 36 (25b, 3×4,1×6), Andre Russell run out 17 (9b,2×4, 1×6), Rovman Powell lbw b Starc 5 (5b, 1×4), Anukul Roy c
Chameera b Starc 0 (1b), Harshit
Rana (not out) 0 (1b), Varun
Chakaravarthy (not out) 1 (1b);
Extras (lb-3, nb-1, w-11): 15; Total
(for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 204.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-48 (Gurbaz, 2.6 overs), 2-85
(Narine, 6.4), 3-91 (Rahane, 7.2),
4-113 (Venkatesh, 9.2), 5-174
(Raghuvanshi, 16.5), 6-177 (Rinku,
17.3), 7-203 (Powell, 19.3), 8-203
(Anukul, 19.4), 9-203 (Russell,
19.5).
BOWLING
Starc 4-0-43-3, Chameera
3-0-46-1, Mukesh 2-0-17-0, Vipraj
4-0-41-2, Axar 4-0-27-2, Kuldeep
3-0-27-0.
DELHI CAPITALS: 190 for 9 in 20 overs
Abishek Porel c Russell b Anukul 4
(2b, 1×4), Faf du Plessis c Rinku b
Narine 62 (45b, 7×4, 2×6), Karun
Nair lbw b Vaibhav 15 (13b, 2×4),
K.L. Rahul run out 7 (5b, 1×4), Axar
Patel c Harshit b Narine 43 (23b,
4×4, 3×6), Tristan Stubbs b Narine
1 (3b), Vipraj Nigam b Russell 38
(19b, 5×4, 2×6), Ashutosh Sharma
(Impact Player for Mukesh) c
Narine b Varun 7 (6b, 1×6),
Mitchell Starc c Gurbaz b Varun 0
(1b), Dushmantha Chameera (not
out) 2 (3b), Kuldeep Yadav (not
out) 1 (1b); Extras (b-5, nb-1, w-4):
10; Total (for nine wkts. in 20
overs): 190.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-4 (Porel, 0.2), 2-43 (Karun, 4.3),
3-60 (Rahul, 6.3), 4-136 (Axar,
13.2), 5-138 (Stubbs, 13.6), 6-146
(du Plessis, 15.2), 7-160 (Ashutosh,17.2), 8-160 (Starc, 17.3), 9-189 (Vipraj, 19.5).
BOWLING
Anukul 4-0-27-1, Vaibhav (Impact
Player for Venkatesh) 2-0-19-1,
Harshit 4-0-49-0, Varun 4-0-39-2,
Narine 4-0-29-3, Russell 2-0-22-1.