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Kolkata Knight Riders are on a roll. After having won two matches out of their first three in the UAE leg of the tournament, they even managed to register a win over the in-form Delhi Capitals. Right from the toss, everything seemed to go their way and although they were in a spot of bother for a brief while in the run-chase, they eventually finished it off with 3 wickets in hand and 10 balls remaining.
After electing to bowl first, Kolkata were spot on with their bowling changes with their slower balls doing much of the damage on a slowish surface at Sharjah. While mystery spinners Sunil Narine and Venkatesh Iyer scalped 2 wickets apiece and were economical as well, they were ably supported by Lockie Ferguson who also picked 2 wickets but had to leave with the field with an injury.
Varun Chakravarthy was also economical but couldn't manage to take a wicket during the match as Delhi Capitals managed 127/9 in their 20 overs. Major contributions came from Steven Smith 39 from 34 deliveries and Rishabh Pant 39 from 36 balls.
In response, Kolkata were reduced to 67/4 but Sunil Narine's 10-ball 21 eased the nerves in the camp and Nitish Rana made sure that he returned only after finishing the match for Kolkata. Shubman Gill also scored 30 from 33 balls. Eoin Morgan's poor form with the bat continued as he was dismissed by R Ashwin for a duck.
It was Avesh Khan who scalped 3 wickets for 13 runs to emerge as the best performer for Delhi Capitals with the ball on a day when Narine hit a few boundaries off Kagiso Rabada in the 16th over to more or less seal the match in Kolkata's favour from a dicey situation. Kolkata got 21 runs from that over, chasing 128.
Eventually, Rabada ended with 28 runs from his 3 overs for 1 wicket but it was really the third over of his spell which spoiled his figures. Meanwhile, the 14th over of the Kolkata innings being bowled by Lalit Yadav which went for 20 runs was also a massive turning point in the game.
Following Kolkata's win which has taken them to 10 points from 11 matches, netizens have been in praise for Sunil Narine for his all-round show.
Check out some of the things netizens had to say about the match: