IPL 2020: Nitish Rana and Varun Chakravarthy lead Kolkata Knight Riders' charge in Abu Dhabi

Victory by 59 runs over Delhi Capitals boosts qualification hopes

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS RATINGS: Shubman Gill – 5. He was given a start by some aimless bowling by Deshpande, but he could not capitalise as he went for nine from eight balls. Sportzpics for BCCI

Nitish Rana – 8. Looked emotional when he reached his second half-century of the season. His stand of 115 in 59 balls with Narine was seminal. Sportzpics for BCCI

Rahul Tripathi – 7. Arrived at the crease full of intent, but was cleaned up by an unplayable yorker from Nortje. Outstanding in the field, with three catches. Sportzpics for BCCI

Dinesh Karthik – 4. His troubles continue. Nicking off to Rabada for three was his sixth single-figure score in his past nine innings, and the match before that was a duck. Sportzpics for BCCI

Sunil Narine – 9. It was madness elevating him above Morgan in the order, right? Totally wrong, in fact. His 32-ball 64 changed the game. Sportzpics for BCCI

Eoin Morgan – 7. His tactical calls worked, and his 17 off nine balls at the end of the innings was valuable, too. Sportzpics for BCCI

Pat Cummins – 8. Started brilliantly, as he trapped Rahane with the first ball of the Delhi innings, and ended with his best figures of the tournament, three for 17. Sportzpics for BCCI

Lockie Ferguson – 6. Not as spectacular as in his previous outings, but solid enough, and he got a wicket in the last over, too. Sportzpics for BCCI

Kamlesh Nagarkoti – 6. A fairly uneventful day out, but he bowled two tidy overs, as well as some handy contributions in the field. Sportzpics for BCCI

Prasidh Krishna – 6. Back to back no balls would not have impressed the management. A wholehearted diving stop in the field will have done, though. Sportzpics for BCCI

Varun Chakravarthy – 9. His introduction to the attack was delayed because Iyer was at the crease. When he came on, he dismissed him, and four others besides, for the best figures of the tournament. Sportzpics for BCCI

DELHI CAPITALS RATINGS: Ajinkya Rahane – 4. Held the catch that finally got rid of Narine, but the decision for him to replace Prithvi Shaw did not work, as he fell first ball of the reply. Sportzpics for BCCI

Shikhar Dhawan – 5. Given his record-breaking form – back-to-back hundreds before this game – it needed something special to get him. Cummins duly delivered. Sportzpics for BCCI

Shreyas Iyer – 7. Top scored for his side with 47 from 38 balls, before falling to Chakravarthy. He got a polite little send off for his troubles, too. Sportzpics for BCCI

Rishabh Pant – 5. His slow scoring rate cost his side at the point when they really needed to be on the front foot. Sportzpics for BCCI

Shimron Hetmyer – 5. Swung for the hills - as the game situation dictated – but holed out to Chakravarthy for 10 off five. Sportzpics for BCCI

Marcus Stoinis – 4. Wickets off the last two balls of the Kolkata innings, but the bowling was otherwise a struggle. He did not fire with the bat, either, albeit with the game all but gone already. Sportzpics for BCCI

Axar Patel – 6. Only given one over, and that went for just one. All of which was bizarre, given the troubles Ashwin was facing. Sportzpics for BCCI

Ravichandran Ashwin – 1. Tried allsorts: leg-breaks, off-breaks, googlies, arm balls. It all looked like declaration bowling, though, as he was savaged by Narine and Rana. Sportzpics for BCCI

Kagiso Rabada – 6. Two more wickets as he eyes the record for number of scalps in a season, although they did not come dirt cheap. Sportzpics for BCCI

Tushar Deshpande – 5. Started loosely with some easy four balls to Gill, and struggled to recover, as he went for 40 from his four overs. Sportzpics for BCCI

Anrich Nortje – 7. The best of Delhi’s bowlers, as he hit some frightening speeds again. The yorker that bowled Tripathi was 148.3kmh. Sportzpics for BCCI

When the going gets tough in the IPL, there are no shortage of stars available to lead Kolkata Knight Riders forward.

They have the reigning World Cup-winning captain, Eoin Morgan.

They have the $2 million man, Pat Cummins, who fetched the highest price of anyone at auction ahead of this season.

In normal circumstances, they would have Andre Russell, too – when fitness permits him onto the field.

And their fixture against Delhi Capitals at Zayed Cricket Stadium on Saturday represented genuine high stakes.

Win, and they would be well placed to advance to the knock-out phase of the competition. Lose, and they would be dragged into a fight for qualification, with confidence spiralling downwards.

At 42-3 in the eighth over, they were on the brink. Then they were not so much rescued from the mire as powered to victory by three unexpected sources.

One who was mourning the death of his father-in-law. Another who was coming back from another career-threatening personal crisis. And the third who only turned to cricket as he was struggling to make ends meet as an architect.

First, Sunil Narine blazed his way back to happiness, making 64 in 32 balls, after returning to the side having had doubts over his bowling action flare up again.

Narine joined in a rousing alliance with Nitish Rana, the uncapped Indian left-hander, that was worth 115 in 59 balls.

Rana, for his part, made 81, his highest score of the tournament so far.

When he reached 50, the 12th man brought out a shirt for him to raise that had “Surinder” inscribed on the back.

It was to honour his father-in-law, Surinder Marwah, who died on Friday.

“Watching both of them play with the freedom that they did was outstanding,” Morgan said.

“We felt Nitish was in good form, if a little bit light on runs. Nitish is a very talented young batsman. He has showed a lot of promise in previous IPLs.

“This year, admittedly, he has probably not scored as many runs as he would like to. Hopefully this can be the start of his campaign kicking things forward.

“It showed unbelievable character to come through adversity, especially when it is family based. We all know what Nitish was going through.

“He is continuing to grieve at the moment, but he is trying to channel that. Churning out runs like he did is a huge credit to him.”

The Narine-Rana stand was the centrepiece of Kolkata’s total of 194-6.

Delhi were not able to get close, with Cummins firing out three, and Varun Chakravarthy picking up the first five wicket haul of this season.

It was the finest moment yet for a spin bowler who gave up a career as a freelance architect to try his hand at cricket instead.

“Around 2015 when I was not making much money as an architect, I thought I will try something else when I wasn't able to meet my needs,” Chakravarthy said, after picking up the man of the match award for his 5-20.

Victory kept a cushion between Kolkata in fourth place in the table, and the sides chasing.

Delhi, who were outplayed as they finished 59 runs adrift, remained well placed in second in the table, but Kagiso Rabada said it was a warning shot.

“Whenever you lose, it is a concern,” said Rabada, who took his tally for the season to 23 wickets, after picking up two more against Kolkata.

“We started off the competition really well and set ourselves up nicely. We need to win one more match, and we qualify.

“It is just the nature of this tournament. It is quality versus quality, and any team can rock up on the day.

“We have been playing some good cricket, and we need to emphasise what we have been doing really well, and analyse the few points where we have let the game slip away.”