After Delhi Capitals defeated KKR by four wickets on Thursday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana opened up. KKR Captain accepted the blame for the defeat to DC. David Warner’s crucial fifty (57 off 41) and the team’s outstanding bowling performance helped Delhi Capitals earn their first victory of the year.
The 10-team IPL 2023 points table currently has Kolkata Knight Riders in disarray at position 8, as things don’t appear to be going their way.
In the powerplay after being put to bat, Kolkata was reduced to 32 for 3 as they lost key players. Jason Roy’s second over, in which he conceded two boundaries, was finished by Mukesh Kumar with the wicket of Liton Das. Das attempted a hook but instead received a top edge towards the square leg, where the fielder easily pouched it.
When Nitish Rana attempted to hit comeback player Ishant Sharma over the mid-on fielder in the penultimate over of the powerplay, he lost his wicket. Venkatesh’s performance was disappointing as he was bowled for a 2-ball duck, only days after scoring his first IPL century.
Sunil Narine gave his wicket away to Ishant for 4, while Mandeep Singh managed 12 but standout finisher Rinku Singh was out for 6. In his 31-ball 38, Andre Russell hit three sixes in the penultimate over to help Kolkata reach a total of more than 120.
I should have stood there: Nitish Rana
“I think we were 15-20 runs on this difficult pitch. I take the responsibility for this, I should have stood there. Credit to the bowlers though, I think the upcoming games will be good for us. We were just trying to delay, but they played really well in the powerplay. That’s where they won the game. We need to play well as a team. We need to bowl like the way we did today, if we manage to sort these things out, we can fight better” said Nitish Rana in post-match conference.
Nitish Rana praised the KKR bowling squad
On a slow ground at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, Nitish Rana praised his bowling attack for holding the game to the very last over.
Delhi was cruising at 93 for 3 in the 14th over after David Warner scored a fifty, but quick wickets from part-timers Anukul Roy (2 of 19) and the captain himself turned the tide. As usual, Varun Chakaravarthy excelled, taking 2 wickets for just 16 runs.
“Credit to the bowlers though, I think the upcoming games will be good for us. We were just trying to delay, but they played really well in the powerplay. That’s where they won the game. We need to play well as a team. We need to bowl like the way we did today, if we manage to sort these things out, we can fight better,” Rana added.
On April 23, KKR will host Chennai Super Kings at home in an attempt to snap their losing run.
Also Read: 5 Top Performances and Records Set in Phase 1 of IPL 2023
