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Narine's Great Performance Leads KKR to a Close Victory
Narine's Great Performance Leads KKR to a Close Victory
IPL 2025: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Delhi Capitals by 14 runs, keep their playoff hopes alive. A 61-run partnership by Raghuvanshi and Rinku built the inning for KKR and set the target 205.
Delhi Capitals (DC) started strong while chasing 205 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). At one point, KKR's key bowlers Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy were struggling Narine had given away 25 runs in just two overs, while Chakravarthy had conceded 31 runs in three overs. But things soon changed. In their final spell, the duo turned the game around, taking five wickets and conceding only 12 runs, putting KKR back in the driving seat.
Axar Patel’s Fighting Knock
DC's captain, Axar Patel, had a solid game. He bowled well, finishing with figures of 4 overs, 27 runs, and 2 wickets. Despite an injured hand, he smashed three sixes off Narine. Interestingly, Narine was leading KKR after Ajinkya Rahane suffered a finger injury and vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer was substituted out. Narine also made a big impact in the field, running out KL Rahul with a direct hit. But his real contribution came with the ball he dismissed Axar, Tristan Stubbs, and top scorer Faf du Plessis, causing DC to collapse from 136/3 to 190/9.
KKR’s Strong Start
KKR’s openers Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and Rahane took advantage of some poor bowling from DC's pacers. They raced to 91 runs in just seven overs, achieving their best opening stand of the season (48 runs) and a strong powerplay (79 runs). However, all three batters got out in their 20s, leaving Rinku Singh and Angkrish Raghuvanshi to stabilise the innings.
The Late Struggle
Rinku and Raghuvanshi built a solid 61-run partnership, setting things up perfectly for Andre Russell. But surprisingly, Russell barely faced any balls in the final overs. With wickets falling quickly, KKR struggled to keep the momentum going and managed only 45 runs in the last five overs. Their incredible start ended up producing the second-highest total on this Delhi pitch this season.
DC’s Chase and Narine’s Leadership
KKR took a bold approach by letting Anukul Roy bowl the first over despite the conditions. Though he was hit for a boundary on the first ball, he quickly removed Abishek Porel. Vaibhav Arora then trapped Karun Nair lbw with a perfect yorker. KL Rahul made a bad call for a quick single and was run out by Narine.
Meanwhile, du Plessis was enjoying the batting conditions, and Axar was taking Narine apart, hitting him for sixes like no other player has. Varun, on the other hand, was struggling he wasn’t turning the ball much and was getting hit easily.
Just when DC seemed to be cruising, Narine struck back. Axar was caught at cover, followed by a brilliant dismissal of Stubbs. Narine’s captaincy also played a role he brought back Roy at the right time. The numbers proved his strategy right: du Plessis had a high strike rate against pace but was much slower against spin. KKR bowled mostly spin to him, limiting his impact.
With DC needing 59 off 29 balls, du Plessis fell to Narine. Ashutosh Sharma and Nigam tried to fight back, scoring 11 runs off the 17th over. But then Varun redeemed himself, taking two quick wickets in the next over, sealing DC’s fate.
KKR secured an important win, bringing them to 9 points in 10 matches. DC, on the other hand, faced a setback they remained at 12 points but now risked losing their spot in the top two.
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