Kuldeep Yadav picked up three wickets against DD. (Source IPL)
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered an emphatic victory after beating Delhi Daredevils (DD) by 71 runs at the Eden Gardens on Monday. While Nitish Rana and Andre Russel did the job with the bat help KKR post 200/9 in 20 overs, the trio of Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, and Kuldeep Yadav spun a web around the DD’s batsmen to bundle the opposition for 129. Amongst themselves, the spinners took 7 wickets giving away 66 runs. Such was their impact that skipper Dinesh Karthik also reserved special praise for the tweakers and expressed satisfaction that they are delivering the goods for his team.
Speaking at the post-match-presentation, Karthik said,”I think the wrist spinners are picked in the IPL for a purpose. They’re doing a good job for us, they’re top quality spinners. Days you don’t win you sleep and wake up with a lot of thoughts. It’s something I’m getting used to. You’ve got to try and separate your batting and captaincy and do the job.”
Commenting on Shreyas Iyer’s wicket who was caught at first-slip, the 32-year-old said, “We do a bit of planning and the most important thing was the catch from Rana. At the end of the way, a win keeps you happy. Feels good. Touch wood. This is the kind of day you make the moves and they work out.”
Meanwhile, crediting KKR for their outstanding performance, Gautam Gambhir said, “We got to give it to KKR. At one stage we thought they wouldn’t get 170-175. We tried our level best but it’s going to be tough against three quality spinners like theirs.”