Varun Chakaravarthy of Kolkata Knight Riders celebrates the wicket of Shimron Hetmyer of Delhi Capitals,Sportzpics for BCCI
Chakravarthy stifles Delhi chase after the heroics of Narine and Rana
The Kolkata Knight Riders played their best match of IPL 2020 as they coasted to a 59-run win over the Delhi Capitals in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy (5-20) turned in a devastating spell after Sunil Narine (64 runs off 32 balls) and Nitish Rana (81 off 52) blazed away to help Kolkata score 194/6 in 20 overs.
Electing to bowl, Delhi had the match in their clasp as paceman Anrich Nortje claimed two early wickets, and at 42/3 the familiar visions of a Kolkata collapse loomed large. But Narine and Rana revived them with a 115-run partnership from 59 balls.
Delhi’s chase never got off the ground with Ajinkya Rahane falling in the first ball of the innings. Pat Cummins struck twice in the powerplay and Delhi never recovered despite the efforts of Shreyas Iyer (47 off 38) and Rishabh Pant (27 off 33). Chakravarthy neutralised Delhi’s search for quick runs with quick wickets as Kolkata cemented their fourth position on the points table.