Bowlers shine as Knight Riders start their campaign with win over Delhi Daredevils

A dominant all-round display from Kolkata Knight Riders took the defending champions to a comprehensive six-wicket victory over the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL 2013 opener at Kolkata. Kolkata were better than Delhi in all departments of the game, and came up trumps.

The Delhi Daredevils, after being put into bat by Knight Riders’ captain Gambhir, were never able to boost their run rate, as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Brett Lee struck with his very first delivery, as it shaped away from Chand and uprooted the off-stump to send the youngster back to the pavilion for nought. Later, there was a constructive partnership of 45 runs for the second wicket between Jayawardene and David Warner, but Sunil Narine put an end to the partnership in his first over, as he grabbed the important wicket of David Warner for 21.

Soon after, the wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, as the Daredevils’ batsmen failed to resist the spin of Narine. It was clear that the Daredevils didn’t fancy the slowness of the wicket and the turn of Narine, as they found it extremely hard to handle him. The only performer for the Daredevils was Jayawardene, who made a splendid 62 while the rest of the batsmen didn’t even touch the double-figure mark.

Following Mahela’s dismissal for 62 in the 17th over, the Daredevils completely lost the plot, and their innings came to a halt after they were bowled out for 128 runs.

Sunil Narine was among the wickets for the Knight Riders as he scalped four for 13 runs. Brett Lee and Bhatia had two wickets to their name, while Balaji and Kallis settled for one apiece.

Kolkata’s chase started poorly, as they lost Bisla early in the innings for 4 after having struck a glorious boundary through the covers of Nehra. The fall of the wicket paved the way for Kallis, who along with Gambhir took the attack to the Daredevils bowlers straightaway. The duo shared a partnership of 47 runs for the second wicket before Nadeem struck to remove Kallis for 23.

Subsequently, Gambhir shared a 41 run partnership with Tiwary before getting trapped in front off Botha for 42 runs. Tiwary (23) followed Gambhir to the pavilion, as he top-edged Nadeem’s delivery, allowing Naman Ojha to collect it with safe hands.

Yusuf Pathan and Morgan later ensured that Kolkata Knight Riders did not make a mess of the small target, as they took their team to a comprehensive 6-wicket victory with 8 balls to spare.

The Knight Riders play their next game against Rajasthan Royals on April 8, while the Daredevils play their next match against the Rajasthan Royals on April 6.