Sunil Narine and young Angkrish Raghuvanshi struck scintillating half-centuries before Andre Russell and Rinku Singh joined in to power Kolkata Knight Riders to an imposing 272 for seven against Delhi Capitals in their Indian Premier League match on Wednesday.
Batting first at Visakhapatnam, Narine blasted 85 in a mere 39 balls while the 18-year-old Raghuvanshi smashed his way to 54 off 27 deliveries, as the DC bowlers ran for cover.
Andre Russell blazed away to 41 in just 19 balls while Rinku Singh made 26 in eight balls, continuing KKR's dominance through the innings.
The Capitals were guilty of dropping him on 53 and Narine made his opponents suffer as he notched his highest-ever score in T20 cricket. It was a forgettable performance by the Delhi bowlers as they conceded the highest total in the team's history. KKR hit as many as 18 sixes and 28 fours.
Narine his his first of many boundaries when he creamed a short ball by Khaleel Ahmed to deep point.
The West Indian took a special liking for veteran pacer Ishant Sharma, collecting 26 runs from the fourth over that included three sixes and two fours, giving a glimpse of what was to come.
At the other end Phil Salt hit a few before he was dropped by David Warner, but the Englishman couldn't make use of the reprieve, getting out in the very next ball to bring Raghuvanshi to the middle.
The 18-year-old hit his very first ball of the IPL for a boundary and that was followed by another four.
KKR continued to hit boundaries aplenty, amassing 88 runs in the powerplay as DC bowlers struggled to find ways to stop them.
DC seemed to make inroads by dismissing Narine and Raghuvanshi in consecutive overs but Russell had other plans.
- With PTI inputs
