Sunrisers Hyderabad broke the record for the highest IPL score last Wednesday with a 277. A raiding Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) batting squad nearly destroyed what should have been a once-in-a-decade effort tonight in Visakhapatnam.
With 85 off 39, Sunil Narine smashed his personal best in the Twenty20 format. Nearly native Angkrish Raghuvanshi followed with 54 off 27, and Andre Russell completed the scoring with 41 off 19.
Although the record was not surpassed by Ishant Sharma’s blistering yorker to dismiss Russell in the final over, KKR’s 272 was more than enough to secure a comfortable victory (by 106 runs) and move up to the top of the table alongside Rajasthan Royals.
In a season where they have established themselves as strong title contenders, KKR checked off another box when they took four wickets in the powerplay, two for Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora.
First Inning :
By then, Narine and Phil Salt had started working, but if the Capitals had listened to Mitchell Marsh and done a review, Narine could still have been acquired for 24 off 13. However, reviews weren’t the only thing they were doing incorrectly. The ball had already stopped swinging, they continued offering Narine room, and when they went short, they didn’t get it high enough.
In the fifth over, Anrich Nortje removed Salt from the game, but Raghuvanshi—who had been tutored by KKR’s Abhishek Nayar since he was eleven years old—stroked out and hit fours off the first two balls he faced. Although Mukesh Kumar is hardly an express, his injury has made DC even less of a danger at speed.
In the final over of the powerplay, Narine took advantage of Rasikh Salam’s medium-pace and hammered him for three fours and a six to reach his half-century in just twenty-one balls. They had the best powerplay score of any team in the IPL 2024, going 88 for 1.
DC was relieved for a single over towards the end of the powerplay when Sumit Kumar bowled, but Narine put an end to any hopes of attack variation by hitting two sixes off Axar Patel, who would not bowl again. In response, Raghuvanshi reverse-pulled over the short third for a six. Their 10-over score of 135 for 1 was the third-highest in the IPL; all three have occurred this season.
In the end, Marsh’s short ball proved to be more effective than Narine’s, but it took more than one short ball to win. He continued to shift pace when bowling outside off, short and wide. Despite this, Narine ended up hitting a boundary every two and a half balls, and the wicket was taken too late.
Russell entered the game at the appropriate time in the 13th over, punishing the same attack. Despite having right-hand batsmen at the wicket, the Capitals did not return to spin, and Nortje was the only player to give the batters a natural obstacle.
Russell proved too excellent for the others, while Rinku Singh got the better of Nortje, taking 25 off the 19th over, when Nortje began the over with one less fielder on the fence due to a low over-rate.
Then, Ishant delivered a stunning play that made Russell himself applaud and kept the Capitals from going down in history.
Second Inning :
Arora, one of the two tall local fast bowlers in the KKR lineup, entered as the Impact Player and was quickly on the upswing. But it was more than simply swing. He confused it with precise bouncers. Before Abhishek Porel top-edged a bouncer, Prithvi Shaw was taken out by the inswinger.
Conversely, Starc handled his Australian teammates, with Marsh being caught attempting a square drive and Warner continuing play after slogging him for a six. After his eight overs in the first two matches went for a hundred runs, these were his first wickets in the IPL.
Even batting for net run rate would need risk-taking and hard hitting at 33 for 4 in the fifth over. Pant and Tristan Stubbs were able to score quickly for a spell. club fifties were never going to be enough to prevent KKR from winning three games in a row, marking the first time in club history that they had started a season with three wins in a row. Pant’s comeback from a potentially fatal accident was particularly encouraging.
