Sunil Narine became the 11th bowler to take 100 wickets in the IPL as KKR thrashed Gautam Gambhir's DD by 71 runs at the Eden Gardens on Monday.
Chasing a mammoth 201 to win, Delhi lost early wickets and put themselves in a precarious position. The fourth-wicket 62-run stand between Rishabh Pant (43 off 26 balls) and Glenn Maxwell (47 off 22 balls) got Delhi's hopes up but once Pant was sent back by Kuldeep Yadav, the visitors' chase completely fell apart and soon they were bowled out for 129 in 14.2 overs.
After conceding 11 runs in his first over, Narine returned in the 11th over to clean up Chris Morris to reach the milestone. With that wicket, Narine joined Lasith Malinga, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Vinay Kumar, R Ashwin and Zaheer Khan in the 100-wicket club. The West Indian took two more wickets to help KKR register their second win in four games. Delhi, meanwhile, suffered their third defeat in four matches.
Earlier in the day, KKR overcame an average start to post a formidable total after being put into bat. Narine was brought back to the opening slot but Trent Boult ensured he didn't replicate some of his past exploits with the bat as the New Zealand fast bowler removed him cheaply in the second over for 1. Delhi also used Morris and spinner Shahbaz Nadeem in the first five overs and KKR could only post 32/1.
Robin Uthappa was the first KKR batsman who really got going as he scored a 19-ball 35 to cancel out Delhi's early advantage. Australian Chris Lynn wasn't at his fluent best and departed shortly after for 31 off 29 balls. Like Uthappa, captain Dinesh Karthik looked good in his brief innings of 19. However, the real impetus for Kolkata came from Nitish Rana and Andre Russell.
Russell looked to threaten KL Rahul's record of fastest IPL fifty off 14 balls when Boult cleaned him up with a yorker for 41 off 12 balls (6x6s). Man-of-the-Match Nitish played a totally contrasting innings and picked his gaps nicely during his 59 off 35 balls. His innings, to all intents and purposes, proved to be the glue that held the KKR innings together. The 61-run fifth wicket-stand off 22 balls between Rana and Russell in many ways turned the game around for the hosts. Delhi legspinner Rahul Tewatia took three wickets in the last over but by then KKR had placed themselves in a strong position having reached 200/9.
