Continuing his red-hot form at the top of the order, Sunil Narine, on Wednesday (April 3), gave Kolkata Knight Riders a whirlwind start with the bat in the ongoing game against Delhi Capitals in Vishakhapatnam in IPL 2024.
KKR captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bat first. Khaleel Ahmed started well with the ball, conceding only three runs in extras as neither Sunil Narine nor Phil Salt could score any run from the first over. In the second over, Phil Salt got into the groove by hitting Ishant Sharma for two fours.
In the third over, Sunil Narine hit his first four of the game while Salt also hit more fours in the same over. Sunil Narine finally got going in the fourth over when Ishant Sharma came to bowl his second over. The veteran fast-bowler had bowled a couple of dot deliveries to the KKR star in his previous over and it looked like he would be able to contain him.
However, Sunil Narine had other plans. He took Ishant Sharma to the cleaners, hitting him for 26 runs. On the first ball, he drove the ball over mid-off for his first six of the game. Ishant Sharma bowled a short delivery but it did not make any difference as Sunil Narine pulled it for another six. The third ball went for a four before Ishant Sharma managed to deliver a dot ball. However, Sunil Narine ended the over by hitting another six and a four.
Talking about the game, Anrich Nortje gave DC a much-needed breakthrough by dismissing Salt for 18 in the fifth over. However, it did not make much of a difference as Narine continued the onslaught. In the final over of the powerplay, he hit a six and three fours to complete a 21-ball fifty. At the time of writing this report, KKR were on 105/1 in the 8th over.
