KKR vs DC in IPL 2021: In the first game of today’s midweek double-header, Eoin Morgan’s KKR play Rishabh Pant’s DC. We look at one of the most memorable matches between these two sides.
It’s Match No. 41 of IPL 2021, as the resurrected KKR take on an on-song DC. On this occasion, we look back at one of their most memorable matches in the league’s history.
The Opening
We are going back to the year 2019. It was Match No. 10 of that season’s IPL, played in what was then known as the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.
DC skipper Shreyas Iyer had won the toss and sent in KKR to bat.
KKR off to a very poor start
Delhi bowlers kept taking wickets at regular intervals right from the very start of the KKR innings. Openers Nikhil Naik and Chris Lynn fell cheaply, and middle order bats Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill also soon followed suit.
Resultantly, in the 10th over, KKR were struggling at 61-5 when captain Andre Russell joined his captain Dinesh Karthik.
Dre Russ, DK pick bowlers apart
These two got into a brilliant 95-run partnership, scored in just under 9 overs. This was majorly helmed by Dre Russ, as he got into total destruction mode in the small Kotla ground.
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He scored a belligerent 62 off just 28 balls before being dismissed by Chris Morris.
DK, tail finish well
KKR skipper himself got to a well-compiled 50 off just 36 balls. Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav ably supported him with cameos.
KKR ended with a healthy score of 185-8 after recovering from their slump earlier.
DC with a good start
Opener Shikhar Dhawan fell cheaply in the 3rd over. However, skipper Shreyas joined Prithvi Shaw and the two proved why Delhi had heavily invested in their youngsters.
The two compiled an 89-run partnership and all but took the game away from KKR. Shreyas was finally dismissed on 43 off 32 balls by Russell.
The Shaw show continues
Although his skipper got out, Prithvi Shaw continued. He did the bulk of the scoring thereafter, before getting out on a heart-breaking score of 99! He deserved a 100 for his impeccable strokemaking that night, but it wasn’t to be!
Delhi still needed 12 off 9 balls with two new batsmen Colin Ingram and Hanuma Vihari at the crease.
KKR eke out a tie
Delhi botched the rest of the chase, as the new batsmen found it difficult to get going. Kuldeep Yadav bowled a brilliant last over with only 6 runs to defend.
In the last two balls, two wickets fell as first Kuldeep dismissed Vihari, and then Ingram was run out while looking for the second run.
Since the first run was complete, the match unexpectedly ended in a tie! Delhi should’ve won it in the 20 overs, but KKR bowled well to roar back into the match!
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DC finally seal it in the Super Over
Prasidh Krishna bowled the over from KKR, with Iyer and Pant out to bat. Delhi scored 10 runs in the over, losing Iyer’s wicket in the process.
In reply, Delhi chose Kagiso Rabada to bowl the over. Russell and Karthik came out to bat for KKR.
Russell hit Rabada’s first ball for four, and it looked like it will be over in the next 2 or 3 deliveries. But the champion bowler from South Africa had other plans!
Rabada bowled a yorker on the second ball which Russell could only jam out. No runs scored. Then on the third ball, he bowled one of the balls of that season – another yorker, right on the base of the middle stump! No batsman could’ve kept that one out!
KG continued with text-book death over bowling, as he bowled lower full tosses and yorkers to give absolutely nothing to the KKR batsmen.
Eventually, DC took what was always theirs – 2 points from this match. KKR could only score 7 runs in their Super Over.
Conclusion
Before that season, Delhi had long been hiding in obscurity. Their fans had forgotten how it felt to win matches in crunch situations.
Kagiso Rabada changed that in one match with one ball, and ensured that the then newly-christened Delhi Capitals were not only changed in name and attire, but had also changed their fortunes!
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Will we see something similar from the Protea bowler once again today? We’ll have to wait and watch!
