The Kolkata Knight Riders opened their Vivo IPL 2016 campaign in style after they defeated the Delhi Daredevils by 9 wickets at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. After winning the toss and putting DD in, the hosts Kolkata Knight Riders shot out the visitors for 98 and then knocked off the runs in 14.1 overs to bag their first points on the board.

Faced with an asking rate of 4.95, the KKR opening pair of Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir set the foundation for the run-chase with a smart 69-run partnership. Uthappa, who breached the 3000 IPL runs milestone during his knock, was the more entertaining of the two openers, while the left-handed Gambhir kept the scoreboard ticking. When it appeared the openers would script a 10-wicket win for their team, a well-timed extra cover drive from Uthappa’s blade landed in the hands of Chris Morris patrolling the outfield; he made 35 from 33 balls and hit seven boundaries during his stay in the middle.

Gambhir, who scored 28 of his 38 runs on the leg-side, saw his team past the finish line in the company of Manish Pandey (15 from 12 balls).
Amit Mishra, who became the leading wicket-taker among Indian bowlers in the IPL, was the lone successful bowler for the Daredevils. Zaheer Khan bowled 2.1 overs on his return to competitive cricket, but struggled for discipline and conceded 24 runs. Chris Morris and Nathan Coulter-Nile were the only DD bowlers to complete their four overs.
Earlier in the evening, Delhi Daredevils got off to a flying start posting 23 runs on the board in the first two overs. But one ambitious shot too many from Quinton de Kock (17 from 10 balls) in the third over and a second strike from Andre Russell in the same over, meant the early momentum had been neutralised. Russell struck for a third time in his following over to reduce DD to 31 for 3.

John Hastings, playing his first IPL match for the Knight Riders, tasted success in his second over when he had Karun Nair caught at point. KKR certainly bagged the honours in the Powerplay overs after restricting the visitors to 35 for 4.

The introduction of spinners in the tenth over only made things tougher for the visitors. The wily Brad Hogg foxed Pawan Negi in his first over, while Piyush Chawla foxed Carlos Brathwaite with the last delivery of his first over. Chawla struck for a second time in his following over when he deceived Chris Morris in flight and disturbed the woodwork behind the batsman.

The last of the recognized batsman in the DD ranks – Sanju Samson, who walked out to bat number five – perished in the fourteenth over when he inside edged one to wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa. DD skipper Zaheer Khan, who batted at number eleven, was last man out; DD folded for 98 (which included 12 extras) with 14 deliveries remaining to be bowled in the innings. de Kock’s 17 was the highest score of the innings and the 24-run opening stand the highest partnership of the innings.

For the hosts, the 45-year old Brad Hogg was the pick of the bowlers returning with figures of 4-1-19-3 (16 dot balls), while Russell (3-24), Hastings (2-6) and Chawla (2-21, 16 dot balls) shared the rest of the wickets.

Brief Scores
Delhi Daredevils 98 all out in 17.4 Overs (Quinton de Kock 17, Brad Hogg 3-19, Andre Russell 3-24)
Kolkata Knight Riders 98-1 in 14.1 Overs (Robin Uthappa 35, Amit Mishra 1-11) by 9 wickets
Man of the Match: Andre Russell, for his match-winning spell of 3-0-24-3

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