New Delhi, Apr 20 (PTI) Ishant Sharma rolled back years as Delhi Capitals bowling attack finally joined the party with a collective effort, restricting Kolkata Knight Riders to a paltry 127 on a spicy deck in an IPL match here on Thursday.
David Warner won a good toss and opted to field as Ishant (2/19 in 4 overs), playing his first IPL match in over two seasons, was bang on target with 13 dot balls and hitting those immaculate three-quarter length just like yesterday.
In rhythm, he still hits 140 clicks but once he was done with his four overs, he literally collapsed in the dug-out chair as Prithvi Shaw came in as ‘Impact Player’.
His India days are well over and Ishant certainly would like to remain an ‘IPL to IPL’ player till his body allows him to take rigours of top flight cricket.
Mukesh Kumar (1/34 in 4 overs) also bowled well in the Powerplay while Axar Patel (2/13 in 3 overs), who hasn’t enjoyed favourable match-ups against left-handers, removed the dangerous Rinku Singh as KKR lost wickets in clumps.
If Ishant, Mukesh and Axar were brilliant in the front 10, Kuldeep Yadav (2/15 in 3 overs), who got Jason Roy (43 off 39 balls), was brilliant as he created doubts in the minds of the batters by varying his pace.
The pitch had a liberal tinge of green and Anrich Nortje (2/20 in 4 overs) bowled an ideal Test match length and the grass covering helped in a bit of deviation as in-form Venkatesh Iyer just managed to dangle his bat and the ball flew to Mitchell Marsh standing at first slip.
It was undoubtedly the ball of the innings but credit goes to Ishant as he didn’t let Roy get away with a good start.
The bit of moisture after a delayed start due to steady drizzle had also freshened up the track and the bit of extra bounce found the batters in a bit of a problem.
Mukesh got rid of Litton Das, who miscued a pull, and the ball that Ishant bowled to dismiss Nitish Rana reared up and he couldn’t check his lofted shot.
However, the wicket that completely changed the course was Rinku’s slog sweep and the ball bounced tad extra to take the top edge and flew at a comfortable height for Lalit Yadav to catch it at deep square leg.
Once Rinku was gone, KKR batting unit seemed like losing the battle in its head as Andre Russell (38 not out off 31 balls), despite hitting four sixes, couldn’t do enough to get his team to a par-score.
Source: PTI News
