Quick guide:
Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders
It was Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders in match number 25 of the IPL 2021, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. Delhi Capitals registered another comfortable win against Kolkata Knight Riders. Delhi Capitals’ skipper Rishabh Pant won the toss and like the last game, he chose to field first.
Also read: Keep believing and take it one day at a time ~The story of the two teams
Match Summary
KKR batting first after losing the toss were off the blocks confidently with Nitish Rana looking to be aggressive but he was undone for 15 off 12 when tried to run down the pitch off Axar Patel in the 4th over. KKR reached a respectable 45/1 at the end of the powerplay overs with Gill(23 off 19) and Rahul Tripathi batting. Just when everyone thought demons of bad start from the KKR top-order has vanished then came the slower bowlers of DC to create damage in the middle phase of the game
KKR managed only 28 runs off the next 4 overs after the powerplay overs with Tripathi going back to the dressing room. Gill in particular couldn’t get going as even after playing half of the balls at that phase scoring just 37 runs. The pressure kept mounting on the other batsman resulting in the downfall of skipper Eoin Morgan and Sunil Narine for ducks each in the same over to off-spinning all-rounder Lalit Yadav. In the 13th over Avesh Khan accounted for Gill (43 off 38).
This mini-collapse resulted in KKR making just 95 for the loss of 5 wickets in 15 overs. Dinesh Karthik and Russell began to attack in the last 5 overs. While the former was trapped leg-before to Axar for 14, the latter showed his brute force once again. The last 3 overs produced 42 runs and this took KKR’s total to 154/6.
Russell was the top scorer for Kolkata scoring an unbeaten 45 off just 27 balls on his birthday. Spinners Lalit Yadav (3-0-13-2) and Axar Patel (4-0-32-2) bagged 2 wickets each for DC.
Watch: Fall of wickets
The total was never going to be enough for in-form DC batters and their approach was quite clear with the way opener Prithvi Shaw started his innings. He smashed 6 boundaries in the very first over of the innings bowled by his U-19 teammate Shivam Mavi.
Shaw made 48 runs off the Capitals’ score of 67 in the powerplay with Dhawan playing the supporting role. The right-handed opener brought up his 3rd half-century of the season in just 18 deliveries. At the end of 10 overs, Capitals reached 95/0 and brought up their century partnership in 62 balls.
Pat Cummins made the breakthrough when he trapped Dhawan in front of the wicket for 46, ending their 132-run stand off just 83 balls, but it was too late as DC already reached a comfortable position with regards to the chase. Shaw missed his maiden IPL ton as he miscued one of Pat Cummins. Pant too fell in the same over of Cummins for a quickfire 16 off 8 balls.
Don’t miss: The Super Sixes Show in Delhi Capital vs Kolkata Knight riders
Despite this, DC rode home with 7 wickets and 21 balls to spare, Marcus Stoinis finished the proceedings with a boundary. Prithvi Shaw was named the player of the match for his sensational knock of 82 from 41 balls. Pat Cummins was brilliant with the ball bagging 3 wickets in 4 overs giving away only 24.
Match thoughts/observations
- This was the fifth win for them in IPL 2021 and it took them to the 2nd spot only behind CSK. For KKR it was a nothing to lose kind of situation with only 2 wins in the first half of the tournament.
- The pressure of scoring quick and scoring big could be seen in the way KKR started and how Rana got out. KKR was struggling to get runs in the first six overs and were losing wickets regularly in that phase. KKR lost the game during the middle phase (7-15 overs) as they couldn’t get the momentum going due to the fall of wickets at the regular intervals.
Key Takeaway : Talent and execution
While we talk about talent, it is important to understand what is meant by talent. Talent is one’s potential or natural ability/skills to do well in a particular field.
However, talent without performance can take you only to certain distance in your field. While we all possess certain amount of talent, it is important to work through it and execute it in performance. Talent helps us to get the opportunities but we need to work on it and nurture that talent constantly and perform.
It however doesn’t mean that if you fail to perform, you don’t have the talent in you but it works as a mirror to see where we need to improve. It is only when you start executing the same in the performance, that we start to nurture it and bettering ourselves in the respective fields.
“We have a huge amount of talent, but talent only gets you so far. You need to turn it into performance, which we haven’t done.” ~ Eoin Morgan in post match interview
In this game, every player out there was talented, some mastered their skills and some were mastering. When it comes to having a talented team on both sides, execution is what makes a difference in the result. We saw in the game too, Delhi Capitals were better with their execution on the given day and Kolkata Knight Riders found themselves on the backfoot in terms of execution but this doesn’t take away the fact that they have a talented squad.
Similarly, we too in our daily lives often think that lack of execution means no talent. It is not true. If we work on execution aspect in our fields, our talent and efforts will been seen and appreciated. We have to work on our individual skills and talents, nurture it, put in the work and when given an opportunity, do your best to execute it.
~By Vaibhav Tripathi (Guest Author), Urvi Shah (Author)