Iyer scored a fantastic 93 for Delhi. (IANS)
Shreyas Iyer scored 93 on his captaincy debut for Delhi Daredevils and helped Delhi win their second game in the process at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
Delhi came into tthe match on the back of 5 defeats from 6 games and Gautam Gambhir's controversial step down from the captaincy role. This meant that Iyer had to deliver in his very first game and he did it beautifully by letting his bat do the talking. He scored 29 of the last over of their innings to take Delhi to 219 at the halfway innings.
Kolkata had to chase a massive target of 220 which meant that had to strike big right from the start. KKR never really got a start with Chris Lynn being dismissed in the second of the KKR innings. They were always behind the asking rate as they had to chase the highest total this season so far.
As it turned out at the end, KKR fell short by 55 runs as Delhi bowlers presented an impressive bowling performance where all the bowlers chipped in with important contributions. Boult, Maxwell, Avesh Khan and Amit Mishra took two wickets each as KKR were bowled out for 164.
Twitterverse praised an impressive Delhi performance backed by their skipper Shreyas Iyer. Prithvi Shaw playing his second IPL game of the season also proved his potential by scoring his first IPL fifty. Here is how the Twitter celebrated an elusive Delhi win.
Russell was 43 of 17, post which scored just 1 of 13 and was dismissed. DD bowled well in that phase, because he could have done a lot of damage in these 13 balls and it could have got close. DD will be really happy with the performance of the youngsters. Still in it.#DDvKKR
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) April 27, 2018
Loved the contest today. Shaw, Iyer and Gill. Just good are the young Indian batsmen....brilliant skills. Excellent temperament. #DDvKKR #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 27, 2018
The @DelhiDaredevils get another win. They can still make the finals, however Ponting will have to channel what he did with #MI in 2014. Or he could channel the @SixersWBBL #goingvertical ????????
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) April 27, 2018
Magnificent win for @DelhiDaredevils. Premature to say they've turned the corner. But in many ways this victory does open up the league
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 27, 2018
That's a high deficit loss by #KKR today. Teams who will be fighting for the 3/4th spot will have to keep an eye on the NRR as it may come handy later on #DDvKKR
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) April 27, 2018
Congrats to the @DelhiDaredevils ! Their 3rd highest win margin ever in @IPL ???????????????????????? @StarSportsIndia
— Erin Holland (@erinvholland) April 27, 2018
Important for the tournament that DD & MI win today & tomorrow. Don't want it to become a 6 horse race just half way through #VivoIPL
— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) April 27, 2018