IPL 2018, DD vs KKR: 3 things you might not have noticed

It was a battle between Delhi Daredevils, a side going through complete distress, and Kolkata Knight Riders, who were looking to move up in the points table.

After winning a crucial toss, Kolkata decided to field first to put the home team into bat. Delhi got off to a blistering start as the duo of Colin Munro and Prithvi Shaw propelled them to their highest powerplay score this season. It was later a show from the new captain Shreyas Iyer, who blazed his way to a 40-ball 93 to leave visitors with 220 runs to get in their 20 overs.

Chasing a mountain-like total, Kolkata were never in the game as they lost too many wickets in the powerplay as they eventually lost the game by 55 runs to give the home side their second win of the tournament.

Let’s take a look at some of the things that went unnoticed:

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#1 Highest opening stand for Delhi this season

This was quite essential from Delhi’s point of view to get a cracker of start after being put into bat by the visitors. To do so, they even made a positive change by roping in attacking batsmen in Colin Munro to replace Gautam Gambhir at the top.

The duo of Munro and Prithvi Shaw made sure that they go hard at the bowlers upfront to lay the foundation for a mammoth total. In the quest to do so, they managed to register the highest opening stand for Delhi Daredevils in this year’s IPL.

It was in the 7th over when Shivan Mavi yorked Munro on 33 to give his side the first breakthrough at a score of 59 for the team.

#2 Prithvi Shaw goes the coaching manual way

In an era when players fancy going the unorthodox way, it is hard to find players opting for the proper cricketing shots to get their work done while batting. With the invention of scoops, Switch-hits and the paddle shots, opportunity to witness drives through the covers and runs in the ‘V’, had become a rare sight.

However, it was pleasing to see a youngster in Prithvi Shaw not getting moved by the present mindset of batsmen of going for the fancy shots that tend to look more eye-catchy. In his first 50+ score of the IPL season, Shaw showed his sheer class to hit shots through the covers, straight down the ground or made some elegant touches to sneak it past the keeper.

#3 KKR spinners going for plenty

Kolkata Knight Riders have at most occasions fancied attacking spinners in their squad. Even this time, the story was no different as they boast to have the trio of Narine, Chawla and Kuldeep. The trio has shared a fair bit of luck to ride the team towards success in the season so far.

At a Kotla track, when the ball tends to grip and stays low, it was meant to assist the spinners. But the Delhi batsmen had their own plans as they took KKR’s strongest point for granted to batter them all around the park.

The trio gave runs with a rate near about 10. This kind of treatment to KKR spinners is a rare sight as they have managed to pick most wickets by spinners for any team in this season.

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