IPL 2018 Report Card: Delhi Daredevils' new captain Shreyas Iyer shines; Andre Russell only performer of note for KKR

The Delhi Daredevils resurrected their campaign at their home ground under their newly-appointed captain Shreyas Iyer as they registered a commanding 55-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders. Winning the toss, Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik chose to field first. The decision backfired as the Daredevils rode on whirlwind knocks from Iyer and Prithvi Shaw and cameos from Colin Munro and Glenn Maxwell to post a total of 219/4 on the board. [caption id=“attachment_4448943” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Delhi Daredevils captain Shreyas Iyer in IPL action against KKR at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi. AFP[/caption] The Knight Riders in return could only manage 164/9 in their 20 overs with Andre Russell top scoring with 44 runs.  Four bowlers in the form of Glenn Maxwell, Trent Boult, Amit Mishra and Avesh Khan picked up two wickets each as the visitors surrendered to Delhi’s superior bowling efforts. Let us now have a look at how all the 22 players fared in the match: 10/10 Shreyas Iyer The newly-appointed Daredevils skipper showed his class on Friday in his very first match as captain.  He played a blistering knock, scoring 93 runs off just 40 deliveries, having walked out to bat at No 3, and thus helped his side post a mammoth total on the board. 9/10 Prithvi Shaw The Indian U-19 World Cup-winning captain scored his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) fifty in only his second match. He set things rolling for the Daredevils and smashed his way to 62 runs off just 44 deliveries, having opened the batting for them. Glenn Maxwell Maxwell walked out to bat in the 15th over of the innings and scored 27 runs off just 18 deliveries before being run out in the very last over of the innings. He also claimed two crucial wickets, including that of the dangerous Chris Lynn. Amit Mishra Mishra had a good outing with the ball after a pretty long time and came up with superb bowling figures of 4-0-23-2. His economical spell and the crucial wickets of Dinesh Karthik and Shivam Mavi completely choked the Knight Riders’ run chase. 8/10 Colin Munro The Kiwi all-rounder combined with Shaw and stitched together an opening stand of 59 runs. He contributed 33 runs in that off just 18 deliveries before being cleaned up by Mavi in the seventh over of the innings. Andre Russell Russell performed decently both with bat and ball. He took the wicket of Rishabh Pant, while conceding 28 runs in his three overs, and then played a 30-ball 44 to provide some sort of respectability to the Kolkata Knight Riders total. Avesh Khan The youngster once again showed good pace and registered bowling figures of 4-0-29-2. His victims included Nitish Rana and Andre Russell - two of the key players in the KKR side. 7/10 Shubman Gill The young batsman tried his best to resurrect the Knight Riders innings along with Russell. He stitched together a partnership of 64 runs with Russell for the seventh wicket before being dismissed for a well-made 29-ball knock of 37 runs. 6/10 Liam Plunkett Plunkett didn’t pick up any wicket but bowled an economical spell of 4-0-24-0 and played an instrumental role in the Daredevils’ victory. Sunil Narine Although he got smashed away for 35 runs in his three overs, Narine made an aggressive start with the bat. He made his way to 26 runs off just nine balls before falling to Boult in the third over of the innings. Trent Boult Boult may have leaked 42 runs in his four overs, but he picked up the two very important wickets in the shape of Robin Uthappa and Narine and thus broke the back of the Knight Riders top order. 5/10 Piyush Chawla Chawla turned out to be the only bowler in the Knight Riders ranks on Friday who had an economy rate under nine. He conceded 33 runs in his four overs and also picked up the important wicket of Shaw. 4/10 Dinesh Karthik The Knight Riders skipper couldn’t do much as well. He scored a run-a-ball 18 that included a solitary six. He fell to Mishra who also claimed his first wicket in the IPL this season. 3/10 Mitchell Johnson The Australian speedster replaced Tom Curran in the KKR squad for this clash. However, the change didn’t turn out to be successful as he leaked 42 runs in his four overs. However, he scored 12 runs off six delieveries towards the end which consisted of two boundaries as well. 2/10 Shivam Mavi Although he picked up the wicket of Munro with a superb delivery, he leaked 58 runs in his four overs. He was one of the bowlers who was taken to the cleaners in the death overs. Nitish Rana He walked out to bat at the fall of the second wicket. However, he went to a very soft dismissal, being caught and bowled by Avesh Khan on a score of eight. 1/10 Rishabh Pant The Daredevils wicketkeeper batsman scored a golden duck on Friday. He was out on the very first ball he faced as he nicked a Russell delivery straight to the gloves of Karthik in the 15th over of the innings. Kuldeep Yadav Kuldeep bowled just two overs without any success and also leaked 22 runs in two overs, while going for 11 runs per over as well. Chris Lynn Lynn was the first Knight Riders wicket to fall. He chopped a Maxwell delivery on to his stumps in the second over of the innings, having made only five runs off six deliveries. Robin Uthappa Uthappa succumbed to a pull shot off Boult on the very second delivery he faced. The ball ballooned up in the air only to land in the safe hands of Shaw at short mid-wicket. He was dismissed for just a solitary run. Vijay Shankar – NA Shankar just bowled an over and gave away 10 runs. Moreover, he didn’t get to face any delivery when he walked out to bat in the last over. So it would be unfair to rate him on the basis of so little data. Rahul Tewatia – NA Tewatia also bowled just one over for 11 runs and didn’t get a chance to bat. So it would be unfair to rate him as well. Rating chart: 10-9: Excellent, 8-7: Good, 6-5: Average, 4-3: Poor, 2-1: Very poor