Axar Patel leaves pitch in agonising pain vs KKR as Delhi Capitals suffer big blow in tight playoffs race
It was the 18th over of the innings when Rovman Powell hit the ball hard towards mid-wicket and Axar Patel put in a dive to deny a single but hurt his finger.
Delhi Capitals suffered a massive blow during Tuesday's Indian Premier League match against Kolkata Knight Riders as skipper Axar Patel hurt himself and left the pitch in agonising pain. The home team captain put up an effort to save runs of his team with his acrobatic effort but in that attempt he hurt his hand during the fag end of KKR's innings at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
It was the 18th over of the innings when Rovman Powell hit the ball hard towards mid-wicket, where Axar put in a dive to deny a single but hurt his finger. The physio entered the middle to check him as he went straight away to get further medical attention.
Before getting injured, Axar completed his quota of four overs in which he produced a sensational spell of 2 for 27. He claimed the big wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer to break the Knight Riders' back in the middle overs.
However, KKR managed to cross the 200-run mark courtesy some valuable contributions from Angkrish Raghuvanshi (44) and Rinku Singh (36). Meanwhile, it was another match where KKR's top-order failed to convert the starts into big scores. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (26), Sunil Narine (27) and Rahane (26) - the troika looked good at the start with some glorious boundaries, but they ended up throwing wickets at regular intervals, which didn't allow KKR to dominate the game.
Mitchell Starc was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi Capitals. He claimed three wickets against his former franchise, two of which came in his final over. The left-arm pacer got hit for a massive six on the first ball, but he bounced back well to give away just nine runs off the over while KKR lost three wickets on consecutive deliveries, with Andre Russell getting run out on the fifth ball.
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Meanwhile, Raghuvanshi looked in imperious touch during his 44-run knock which was laced with three fours and two sixes.
After the first innings, the KKR youngster said that 204 was an above-par score, and his team had covered the bases in bowling by picking an extra spinner.
“It is just above par. It is a really good wicket to bat and we have to bowl really well. Our bowlers are really good and we back them. (if the wicket is gripping) Not too much. That's why we picked an extra spinner, hopefully they can extract something off the pitch. Two of our spinners are the best, hopefully that will give Anukul also confidence to bowl well his four overs,” he told broadcasters.
He also talked about batting at number 4 which he haven't done before in his career.
“Honestly I have never batted at 4 before in my career, but having fun and trying to win games for my team. (on his two sixes) It is just instinctive, I went in with good intent and it came off. Did not really plan for it,” he concluded.
