Left Arm Around

Sunil Narine blitzes brilliant 85 to propel Kolkata Knight Riders to a comprehensive 106-run victory over Delhi Capitals at the ACA-VDCA International Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

The West Indian hit 7 fours and 7 sixes to make his highest T20 score and justify his promotion to the top of the order at the beginning of the season.

He began slowly having played and missed Ishant Sharma several times, yet soon hit his stride as the Capitals had no answers for his brutal display of strokemaking.

Narine, 35, was well supported by star debutant Angkrish Raghuvanshi (54) in a scintillating partnership of 104 from only 48 deliveries.

18 year-old Raghuvanshi was India’s highest run-scorer in their successful 2022 Under 19 World campaign, striking 278 runs from six knocks.

The pair fell in quick succession on the hunt for more boundaries, however Andre Russell continued their dominance with a quick-fire 41 and Rinku Singh smoked 26 off 8 as Shreyas Iyer’s men ended on an imposing 272-7.

A mammoth target of 273 was never likely to be reached, but DC’s faint hopes of a miraculous heist were pretty much put to bed when they slipped to 33-4 inside five overs.

IPL record signing Mitchell Starc claimed his first wickets of this year’s tournament, removing fellow Australians Mitch Marsh (0) and David Warner (18).

Impact player Vaibhav Arora was also incredibly impressive, dismissing Abishek Porel for a duck and Prithvi Shaw for 10 as he ended with figures of 3-27 from four overs.

Captain Rishabh Pant and South African Tristan Stubbs hit brilliant fifties to give the total a matter of respectability, but leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy then removed them both as the Capitals wilted to 166 all-out in 17.2 overs.

Victory for KKR maintains their 100% winning record and leaves them top of the IPL table with three wins from three.

DC slip to ninth having won just one of their four fixtures thus far.

They return to action against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, while KKR play away at Chennai Super Kings on Monday.