Sunil Narine was undoubtedly the pick of the bowlers as he bagged a couple of wickets in his four overs and conceded only 18 runs.
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An outstanding bowling performance by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowlers saw the Delhi Capitals (DC) on Tuesday in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Every single bowler for the men in purple displayed a masterful effort and while not all managed to bag a wicket, they definitely dried up the runs for the Capitals. Not to mention, they were massively helped by a sluggish Sharjah track. The Capitals ended their innings with a score of 127-9. KKR will need to chase down 128 in 20 overs and although the target might not seem intimidating, DC have an incredible bowling attack that has a good mix of youth and experience. The incredible part, however, was that DC failed to hit a single six in the entire first innings. It is the first time that it has happened in an IPL game at Sharjah.
The Capitals batting unit cut a dismal picture as none of the batters could get into their rhythm against what was an outstanding bowling display. Steve Smith and Shikhar Dhawan opened the innings for the men in blue and while both got to scores in excess of 20, they were slow knocks. Dhawan scored 24 runs off 20 deliveries and Smith managed to get 39 off 34. Skipper Rishabh Pant also got a good score but it was just too slow. He added 39 runs to the innings but took 36 deliveries. None of the other batters for the Capitals could even manage to get into double figures and it will be a matter of concern for the side going forward.
For KKR, though, the first innings perhaps could not have been any more perfect. Every single bowler deployed by skipper Eoin Morgan did a fantastic job. Sunil Narine was undoubtedly the pick of the bowlers as he bagged a couple of wickets in his four overs and conceded only 18 runs. Venkatesh Iyer, who was initially a batter for the men in purple, also picked a couple of wickets and conceded 29 runs in four overs. The pacers from New Zealand, Lockie Ferguson, and Tim Southee did a fine job as Ferguson picked two wickets and Southee bagged one. Spinner Varun Chakravarthy might not have been among the wickets but his spell was economical. Chakravarthy conceded 24 runs in his four overs.
The KKR run chase will certainly be an interesting one as the men in purple have not lost a game while chasing in the UAE leg of the IPL yet. However, DC have the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, and Anrich Nortje who can completely derail the KKR batting unit.
