With 97 off 61 balls from Quinton de Kock, Kolkata Knight Riders won their first match in IPL-20125. The team beat Rajasthan Royals by 8 wickets on Wednesday. Moin Ali and Varun Chakraborty bowled very economical from KKR, both took 2-2 wickets.
KKR chose to bowl at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. Rajasthan scored 151 runs after losing 9 wickets. Dhruv Jurell scored 33 runs and captain Ryan Parag scored 25 from the team. Kolkata achieved the target by losing 2 wickets in 17.3 overs.
Match Analysis in 5 points …
1. The Match of Player
Chasing a target of 152 runs, Quinton de Cock batted fast from KKR. Moin Ali was having a lot of trouble playing in front of her, but De Cock did not allow her fellow batsman to increase. He hit 8 fours and 6 sixes on a difficult and slow pitch. De Cock scored 97 off just 61 balls and 15 balls remaining to give his team a victory.
2. The hero of victory
- Luxury Arora: Vaibhav bowled wonderful with a new ball and gave the team the first wicket. He bowled Sanju Samson. Then Shubham Dubey was also caught.
- Moin Ali: Coming to Sunil Narayan, Moin was able to give only 23 runs in 4 overs. He also took 2 big wickets for Nitish Rana and Yashwashi Jaiswal.
- Varun Chakraborty: KKR's mysterious spinner Varun took just 17 runs and took 2 wickets. He sent Rajasthan captain Ryan to Pollen and Vanindu Hasranga pavilion.
3. Fighter of the Match
The only captain Ryan from Rajasthan was seen showing pollen. He hit 3 sixes on a slow pitch and scored 25 off just 15 balls. He then gave up only 25 runs in 4 overs of bowling. Although he did not get any wickets, he tried his best to put pressure on the KKR batsman.
4. The Turning Point
Kolkata spinners bowled first and put pressure on Rajasthan. Moin and Varun gave up only 40 runs in 8 overs and took 4 wickets. In the bat, the partnership of De Cock and Angkrish Raghuvanshi was the game changer. The duo shared 83 off just 44 balls for the third wicket.
5. What did the captain say?
Rajasthan captain Ryan Parag said
170 would have a good score. I was very hasty in batting, so we scored 20 runs less. We were trying to get out of Quinton soon with the help of a spin. Team management sent me third, so I am happy with their decision. This year we have a young team, so everyone is learning. We are trying to learn from our mistakes.
Kolkata captain Ajinkya Rahane said
We bowled well in the first 6 overs. The between the overs was very important, Moine took advantage of the opportunity and bowled brilliantly. He did not perform well in the bat, but I am happy with his performance. In this format, we want players to play fearlessly. The full credit goes to the bowlers, who just focused on taking wickets.
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).