On Saturday-night, the Kolkata Knight Riders newly crowned captain, Dinesh Karthik was "surprised" by the revised target thrown up for their Saturday opponent Kings XI Punjab in the rain-hit match at Eden Gardens. Kolkata Knight Rider, who set the total of 192, Kings XI were 96 for 0 in 8.2 overs when the rain arrived and roughly 90 minutes later match begin again. They needed just 29 runs more off 28 balls which set 125 in 13 overs, to seal victory and go top of the IPL table. The new target was calculated via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, an upgrade on the Duckworth-Lewis system.
We needed two wickets at that stage," Karthik said, after Kings XI romped to a nine-wicket win with 11 balls remaining. "It was important to get Chris Gayle and KL Rahul early and that was something I was wishing to happen, but they played some really good shots and got away”. He also added
"It's hard for me to predict what would've happened. It's interesting that at that stage, when play was stopped, they needed about eight runs an over. But after the [DLS] method, they suddenly needed only six, a run a ball, and that was surprising”.
"If it would have been a 20-over game, they'd be needing eight an over. If we'd gotten two quick wickets, the [required] run rate would have kept going up if we'd bowled well. We came back after the rain and they said they needed just a run a ball, I didn't understand that part. I'm sure [DLS] has been something people are still trying to figure out."