With 343 runs (in 8 innings) Phil Salt has the most runs by an overseas player in IPL 2024.
Kolkata Knight Riders notched up a comfortable seven wicket win over Delhi Capitals at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Opting to bat first, Delhi were restricted to 153/9 by KKR's disciplined bowlers. The home team completed the chase of 154 with 21 balls to spare.
The star batters on the night...
Rishabh Pant
It seemed like Delhi misread the pitch and although Prithvi Shaw started off nicely, his dismissal in the second over saw a flurry of wickets fall in no time. The collapse -- 37 for 3 in 3.3 overs -- brought Captain Pant to the wicket. He was off the blocks in no time, hitting a Vaibhav Arora half-volley through extra cover for a four.
In the next over, he hit Sunil Narine for a six over square leg. Pant then struggled to find his range and had to be forced to just play the singles.
He was dropped on 18 off the first ball of Varun Chakravarthy's spell -- a top edge and Harshit Rana failed to hold on to a dolly at short third man.
The otherwise effortless big hitter just couldn't get his timing right and was eventually dismissed for 27 off 20 balls by Chakravarthy.
Through this IPL, Pant has scored most of his runs against fast bowlers and has struggled against slower bowlers -- his strike rate against spinners is 113. He only hit two fours and one six in his short stay at the crease.
Kuldeep Yadav
Kuldeep Yadav has honed his batting skills and he exhibited some of that on Monday.
Coming out to bat at 101 for 7, the spinner knew he had to put some runs on the board to defend.
He started his innings with a sweep, the top edge flew over fine leg for a four. He rode his luck and got another boundary, going off the outside edge of his bat to third man for a four.
He got lucky again when he top edged a Mitchell Starc delivery and Rana, at square leg, parried the ball over the boundary as he failed to keep the ball out. In the same over he flicked a low full toss to square leg for another four.
In the final over he smashed Andre Russell for two boundaries to take DC past the 150 run mark. He stitched up a handy 8th wicket stand of 30 runs with Rasikh Dar Salam and remained unbeaten on 35 off 26. He smashed five fours and a six to give his batters a lesson in batting on a slow track -- striking at a rate of 134.6.
Phil Salt
On a slow track, Kolkata were chasing 155 for victory -- a below par score. But small chases are always tricky and KKR needed a good foundation before building the innings and heading across the finish line.
Continuing in his rich vein of form, Salt took up the mantle to lead the chase and did it with aplomb. He was off the mark with a four off the first ball of the innings and he kept the momentum going through his innings. He was dropped on 15, but didn't let his guard down.
He scored freely and his smooth swing of the bat made his six hitting a treat to the eyes. It was as if he was batting on a completely different strip altogether.
There was no respite for any DC bowler, he was particularly severe on Lizaad Williams whom he smashed for 27 runs off the first two overs of his spell. He dominated the Powerplay overs and got to his half century with a six off Khaleel Ahmed. He took just 26 deliveries to hit his fourth IPL half-century in the last six innings. So awesome was the innings that it made Shah Rukh Khan give it a standing ovation!
His innings put KKR in the driver's seat and thereafter Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer joined hands to help the hosts canter to victory.
With 343 runs (in 8 innings) Salt now has the most runs at Eden Gardens in a season. He also has the most runs by an overseas player in IPL 2024 and the 5th highest run-getter overall.
And to think that Salt went unsold at the mini-auction and was brought in as a replacement for Jason Roy says a lot about the English wicket-keeper batter's character.
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