If, in an IPL season, it's the first time that a SIXER came after a FIFTY the full credit (!) goes to the Daredevils who didn't really dare to face Naraine's magical spell in a typical Eden Garden track yesterday in the IPL season 6 opener!
It's sheer dominance what the Knight Riders had shown over the Daredevils and the 'not so balanced' Delhi side couldn't stand the bowling attack right from the ball no. 1 of the season, bowled royally by Brett Lee, which literally made a crack in the stump, sending the victorious Indian Under 19 captain Unmukt Chand to pavilion with a big round zero to his name on the board!
Nothing can demoralize a batting team more that a first ball duck.... and that's what struck the unfortunate Delhi team yesterday.... Yet have to accept that the efforts made for the comeback was awesome! The skipper Mahela Jayawardane flicking Brett's delivery in the same over for a leg-side boundary was a defining moment on how to take on the pressure with your experience! but what I dont understand is, when they had David Warner to open with the young Unmukt Chand, why not the experienced Warner face the first ball?!
But even the experience of Warner didn't work against Sunil Naraine!
O Man...... Naraine has not faded at all and he stands solid to give KKR the winner's boost in this season too! It was none other than Naraine who'd completely taken the match away from the guests.....
He was not at all predictable and the way he had taken his wickets photographed the batsmen with their worst gestures fumbling against the almost unplayable deliveries! Look at the dismissal of Russel, caught and bowled, one of the most simplest ways of trapping a batsman with spin.... and what I liked the most in Naraine, is his manly gesture after taking the wickets.... he doesn't seem to celebrate much his wickets and he gives a polite send off to his victims non-verbally asking "Who's next?" with his solid body language!
The only thing worked for Delhi was their skipper's knock.... Mahela, just returning from an injury to his class of cricket straight away, played the captain's innings which though eventually had gone in vain, has stored the hopes of the team for the rest of the long tournament! Perfect short selections, measured foot works and accurate timings were all in Mahela's well played 66 runs off 52 balls....
Definitely Delhi would have posted a decent score on the board if Gautam would have waited to introduce Narine into the attack.... skipper Gautam Gambhir handed the still shining white ball to Naraine when the score-board read 48/1 in just 5 overs.... the runrate was always under control after that over while the wicket fall was very much adequate and periodic...
Nothing much to discuss about Delhi's batting as they just fell flat to the simplest prototype bowling strategy executed by KKR's medium pacers Balaji,shukla and Bhatia that just TO KEEP IT SLOW AND STRAIGHT!!! Team Delhi just fell as a deck of card against the wind..... failing terribly with the bat...
Also there's not much to exclaim about Delhi's bowling, where Nehra's line was interesting in the opening overs the same was rewarded with the wicket of struggling Bisla at one end. Gautam was spectacular yesterday he was very fluent with the bat, it was so delightful to watch his bat connecting to the ball perfectly when he just freely swings it the air with rhythm! Gautam's foot work was nothing less than perfect when he was timing Delh's pacers to boundary line..... Botha, Pathan, Nehra, Umesh nobody tried to exploit the conditions in favor of the bowling side which I would say they failed to learn from the hosts! Umesh has nothing to offer other than his pace which he only believes he has really! Kallis, Tiwary,Yousuf and Morgan just cake walked to reach the handy target with no pressure mounting on them!
So to wrap it up..... the first match of this IPL was not so hard fought but still had moments for the host crowd to cheer for their champions continuing the winning streak...... First ball of the season breaking the stump and what else would the crowd be asking for from their heroes! Watching SRK delighting for his own team was just equal to see the entire crowd cheering for the local team! I personally would like to see SRK's reaction when Chris Gayle takes on KKR :-)
It's KKR all the way to triumph... a victory to show their might....... lets wait for the next match to be played today Mumbai Indians Vs Royal Challengers Bangalore I'm going to watch live from the Chinnaswamy Stadium today! EXCITED as I'm gonna see Sachin live for the first time in my life :-)
Catch you later......
Luv
Prabu M
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