Images from Saturday's IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals, in Abu Dhabi.
Nitish Rana revelled in his new opening role with a whirlwind 81, while Sunil Narine smashed a 32-ball 64 to propel Kolkata Knight Riders to a commanding 194 for 6 in their IPL match against Delhi Capitals in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Promoted to open, Rana smashed 13 fours and a six in his 53-ball 81, while Narine also came out all guns blazing, smacking four sixes and six fours, as Kolkata Knight Riders put behind their horror show against Royal Challengers Bangalore to post a stiff total after being asked to bat.
The left-handed duo stitched together 115 runs from just 59 balls to seize the momentum.
Having crumbled for 84 in their last match against Royal Challengers, the Knight Riders were against staring down the barrel at 42/3 after 7.2 overs.
Anrich Nortje grabbed the wickets of the under-performing Shubman Gill (9) and Rahul Tripathi (13) inside the Powerplay, while Kagiso Rabada accounted for Dinesh Karthik (3).
Just when KKR's tale of batting woes began to unfold, Rana got into the rescue act, taking the attack to the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin in an over that yielded 13 runs.
He first smacked Ashwin's tossed up delivery for a six and followed it up with a boundary.
In the next over, Narine joined in to continue Kolkata’a run-feast in the back-end of the innings in an incredible partnership.
Delhi Capitals brought back Nortje but there was no respite for them and Rana brought up his fifty with an outside edge.
He was then seen dedicating his half-century to his father-in-law, who died of cancer recently, by showing a jersey customised by KKR as a special tribute to him.
Narine then hammered Marcus Stoinis by hitting him for a six and a four making the formidable Delhi attack look mediocre.
For Delhi, Ashwin was the most expensive and looked ordinary, conceding 45 runs from his three overs, while Nortje (2/27), Rabada (2/33) and Stoinis (2/41) took two wickets each.