Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Delhi Capitals by 14 runs in their IPL clash in Delhi on Tuesday. Sunil Narine was the standout performer, taking 4 wickets, including 3 in the space of just 7 balls, to swing the momentum in KKR’s favor.
Varun Chakravarthy added pressure with two crucial wickets in the final overs. Andre Russell delivered the finishing blow by dismissing Vipraj Nigam in the last over, cutting short his explosive 38 off 19 balls and dashing Delhi’s hopes of a late comeback.
Despite the win, Kolkata Knight Riders remain in seventh place on the points table, while Delhi Capitals, despite the loss, hold their position at fourth.
A fifty by Faf du Plessis had kept the home team's hopes alive as he and Axar Patel added 76 for the fourth wicket in quick time.
But with 69 still needed in a chase of 205, Narine, who had just been hit for six by the DC skipper, had him caught at extra cover for 43 off 23 balls.
Then off the last ball of the same over, he castled Tristan Stubbs for one.
In his next over, the West Indian took the vital wicket of du Plessis, caught by Rinku Singh at deep midwicket for 62 off 45 balls, leaving DC in dire straits at 146/6.
Earlier, DC lost Abhishek Porel to the second ball of the innings, caught by Andre Russell off Anukul Roy for four.
Karun Nair then departed for 15, trapped leg before by Vaibhav Arora after a review by KKR.
DC suffered another blow when KL Rahul was run out for seven by a direct hit from Sunil Narine, leaving them at 60/3.
In the first half of the game, Kolkata Knight Riders posted a challenging 204/9 after being put in to bat.
Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sunil Narine got KKR off to a blistering start, adding 48 for the first wicket in just three overs, with Dushmantha Chameera being hammered for 25 in his first over.
It was too good to last as Gurbaz edged the last ball of the third over by Mitchell Starc to wicket keeper Abhishek Porel for 26 off 12 balls.
The fifty came up in 3.4 overs and at the end of the six-over powerplay KKR had surged to 79/1.
DC then hit back with three quick wickets. Narine was trapped leg before by Vipraj Nigam for 27 off 16 balls. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane was the next to go, also out lbw, this time to his opposite number Axar Patel, after making 26 off 14 balls.
Axar then struck again in his next over as Venkatesh Iyer fell for just seven, top-edging one to Nigam at cover, leaving KKR at 113/4 in the tenth over.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Rinku Singh then revived the KKR innings with a 61-run stand for the fifth wicket before falling in quick succession.
Raghuvanshi who top-scored with 44 was dismissed by Chameera, while Rinku fell to Vipraj for 36.
Andre Russell hit Starc for a six in the final over to take KKR past the 200 mark.
Delhi Capitals won the toss and chose to bowl at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
“There was dew in the last game, so we’ll look to make use of it, if it comes. We will try to assess it while bowling and decide if it is a 190-200 match,” said DC skipper Axar Patel following the toss.
“It’s hard to read the wicket, but I think the left-arm spinner will be a good option. We are just looking at one game at a time. Let’s see how it plays,” KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane said.
DC, who have made a strong start to the season with six wins from nine matches, will be eyeing the top spot on the table with another victory.
Defending champions KKR, meanwhile, are struggling in seventh place, with just three wins and one draw from their nine games. They will be eager to return to winning ways and keep their playoff hopes alive.
Playing XI
Delhi Capitals: Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel (WK), Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Axar Patel (C), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Dushmantha Chameera, Mukesh Kumar
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (C), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Rovman Powell, Harshit Rana, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy
Impact players:
DC: Ashutosh Sharma, Jake Fraser McGurk, Tripurana Vijay, Sameer Rizvi, Donovan Ferreira
KKR: Manish Pandey, Luvnith Sisodia, Mayank Markande, Vaibhav Arora, Ramandeep Singh