IPL 2018: Shreyas Iyer's Fierce Assault On KKR Becomes The Talk Of The Town

Shreyas Iyer launched a fierce assault on Kolkata Knight Riders that left the Dinesh Karthik-led team shell-shocked and with a mountain to climb after the first innings. The newly-appointed Delhi Daredevils captain blasted 93 off 40 balls -- the highest score by any player on captaincy debut in the history of IPL -- on Friday night in an IPL 2018 match at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. The whirlwind knock powered Delhi to 219 for four. Fans, former players, commentators were full of praise for the 23-year-old.

Big shoes to fill for #ShreyasIyer tonight and he did it with aplomb, excellent with the bat to start with, composure in leadership ,as well as on the field #DDvKKR #IPL2018

— subramani badrinath (@s_badrinath) April 27, 2018

#ShreyasIyer serious striking that! #DDvKKR

— Jonny Bairstow (@jbairstow21) April 27, 2018

Hats off to Shreyas Iyer He will be perfect partner for Virat Kohli in the middle order.. #DDvKKR #IPL2018 #IPL11 #DDvKKR #delhidaredevil

— kunaleo_10 (@kunalpatil04) April 27, 2018

What's coming through clearly with Shreyas Iyer is that he has great hands while batting. All other things will unravel slowly.#DDvKKR

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 27, 2018

Congratulations @DelhiDaredevils on a comprehensive win - special day for Shreyas Iyer - overall splendid performance - let's have a repeat on Monday

— Parth Jindal (@ParthJindal11) April 27, 2018

Great start for Shreyas Iyer. Captaincy debut @DelhiDaredevils and Player of the match. Memorable beginning #DD. A good win today for #DDvKKR @IPL

— Anjum Chopra (@chopraanjum) April 27, 2018

Terrific start for Shreyas Iyer as captain. Wins match and man of the match too!

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 27, 2018

Shreyas Iyer reminds me of Indian cricketers of the 90s and early 2000s. No attitude. No hair coloured. No fancy hairstyle. No over the top celebration. Not very cool. Not very aggressive. #IPL2018 #DDvKKR

— Navin Nagpal (@nagpalnavin) April 27, 2018

Your first day on the job as boss, and you couldn't wish for a better day at the office #ShreyasIyer#DDvKKR

— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) April 27, 2018

This Shreyas Iyer seems like Virat Kohli after a glass of Amul Kool.#DDvKKR

— Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) April 27, 2018

Iyer has replaced Gautam Gambhir as captain of Delhi Daredevils after the veteran left-hander had relinquished his post following a poor start to the campaign. Gambhir was left out of Delhi's playing XI for the home match against KKR with young Prithvi Shaw and Colin Munro opening the batting.

One of Delhi's main problems have been their poor starts at the top of the order and that quickly changed as Munro and Shaw got their team to an absolute flier. The duo added 59 runs for the first wicket before Munro fell to Shivam Mavi.

Shaw was joined by Iyer and the duo strung together a 68-run stand for the second wicket, giving their team a brilliant foundation for an all-out attack at the end of the innings.

Rishabh Pant was dismissed for a golden duck and in walked an out-of-form Glenn Maxwell. The Australian found the going hard initially, hardly timing any of his shots. However, he found his range as the innings progressed but had to take a back seat as the Iyer show began.

Narine was taken for 18 in the 17th over of the innings, however, it was Mavi's final over that produced one of the most destructive hitting seen in IPL history. Iyer smashed Mavi for a whopping 29 runs -- the most expensive over of IPL 2018 -- to power DD to a match-winning score.

KKR made a feeble attempt to overhaul the target but were always chasing shadows after losing their top four batsmen within the powerplay overs. Shubman Gill (37 off 29 balls) played a handy knock and along with Andre Russell (44 off 30 balls) managed to keep the Kolkata outfit in the tie.

But a brilliant showing by DD bowlers at the death kept Russell under wraps and helped the Delhi franchise register a 55-run win -- their second in seven matches this season.