IPL 2018, KKR vs DD: 4 Masterstrokes from the game

Playing their 4th match of the season, Kolkata Knight Riders were to host Delhi Daredevils at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Delhi was high on confidence coming into this game, after beating the reigning champions in their own backyard. Kolkata, on the other hand, seemed to lose their path after a win in their opening encounter.

On one of the better pitches in India, Delhi won the toss and asked KKR to bat first. The Knights were caught up by a beautiful spell from Boult upfront as he got rid of Sunil Narine. However, Uthappa tried to up the ante but was caught by Nadeem. Later, a blitz from Russell and a 50+ score from Rana helped the team post a mammoth total of 200.

Chasing 201, Delhi was caught off guard by Chawla in the very first over as he grabbed the prize scalp of Jason Roy. It was always a huge task at hand, but the likes of Pant and Maxwell gave them a glimmer of hope to reach anyway near to the target. However, after their dismissal, it was just a flurry of wickets that meant a loss by 71 runs for the Daredevils.

Let's take a look at some of the master strokes from the match:

#1 Sticking to Nadeem despite the hammering in the previous overs

Gautam Gambhir, who is known for showing immense faith in his bowlers, once again had his hand behind Shahbaz Nadeem. The slow left-arm bowler was taken for runs in his first two overs but the skipper backed him to bowl yet another over of his spell.

Nadeem was pumped as he didn't let his skipper down to send a dangerous-looking Uthappa back to the pavilion after going for runs in the previous overs. This was indeed a masterstroke from the skipper to back his bowler. This, in turn, brought the certain massacre of runs to rest for some time before Andre Russell arrived at the crease.

#2 Field Placement for Dinesh Karthik

The skipper of Kolkata Knight Riders was foxed by a planned field placement from the bowler. After being hit for a couple of boundaries at the mid-wicket region, Chris Morris placed a fielder at the same position and got the reward for his remarkable planning.

The ball was more on the pads as Karthik, in quest of getting another boundary, flicked it straight into the hands of Trent Boult, who was placed at mid-wicket. The bang on field positioning from Gambhir and the bowler was a delight to watch, even more, when it clicked for the side.

#3 Tewatia bowling the ultimate over

This was an out of the box move from Gambhir to ask the leg-spinner to bowl the final over of the innings. In the quest to seize the flow of runs any further, Daredevils' skipper went to his slow bowling option in Rahul Tewatia to finish the Kolkata innings.

The move paid off as Tewatia not only contained runs but also managed crucial wickets to ensure no further damage in the innings. He conceded only a single run and sent three batsmen packing to end the innings on a positive note for the men from the capital. The economical over could have been the difference between the two sides given Delhi batted better in their innings.

#4 Chawla against Roy at the beginning

Aware of the probable danger of Jason Roy, KKR came up with some decisive plans to put the visitors early under pressure. To do so, they brought in an experienced campaigner in Piyush Chawla to make the batsmen dance to his tunes. The leggie managed to give Delhi, an early strike in the first over.

He dismissed the last game hero for Delhi, Jason Roy on a delivery that was pitched wide outside the leg stump. In his attempt to reach for the ball, Roy was stumped on a wide delivery. This was indeed a huge blow for the visitors in their plans to chase a mammoth target as they later found it difficult to go hard against the likes of Narine, Kuldeep, and Russell.