Kolkata Knight Riders have managed to restrict Delhi Capitals to 135/5 in Qualifier 2 of 2021 IPL, being played in Sharjah.
The winner of the match goes through to the final against Chennai Super Kings, while the loser gets knocked out of the tournament.
Earlier, KKR skipper Eoin Morgan had won the toss and elected to bowl first and while DC's openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw started slow, with just one run scored in the first over, they went after Shakib al Hasan in the third over - scoring 12 runs off him. The next over saw Sunil Narine smashed for consecutive sixes as 14 runs were made off the fourth over and Delhi were at 32/0.
Varun C though ended their run, trapping Prithvi Shaw lbw on 18
After Prithvi's wicket, Dhawan and Marcus Stoinis joined forces and looked to maintain the run-flow but KKR bowlers didn't allow them to score freely by bowling hard length deliveries. As a result, Delhi were 65/1 at the halfway mark, lurching towards the average total.
The pressure was building on Stoinis, who was promoted in the batting order despite coming from an injury. In order to score freely, the all-rounder gave himself room to hit one through the off side but missed a quick and cross-seamed delivery, which crashed into the stumps. Stoinis (18) and Dhawan added 39-runs for the 2nd wicket partnership.
From thereon, Kolkata continued to strangle the batters further and Delhi kept on losing wickets at regular intervals.
Shivam Mavi of Kolkata Knight Riders celebrates after taking the wicket of Marcus Stoinis.
(Photo: BCCI/IPL)
Dhawan, who scored 36 off 39, was the first to go. He charged down the track, trying to slam Chakaravarthy's delivery straight down the ground but the ball took the outside edge and Shakib did well to cover ground quickly and take a diving catch.
DC skipper Pant came to bat next and started his innings with a boundary but he couldn't carry his knock longer and got out to Lockie Ferguson, leaving DC in trouble at 90/4 after 15.2 overs. After losing the wickets of Dhawan and Pant in quick succession, Delhi were in deep trouble and Shreyas Iyer and Shimron Hetmyer had the responsibility to bring their team back in the game.
Hetmyer survived a close call on the individual score of 3 as he was caught brilliantly by Shubman Gill at long on off a Varun Chakravarthy delivery but it was called a no ball by the TV umpire. After getting the life-line, the Windies cricketer hit a couple of sixes in the 18th over bowled by Ferguson. However, in the next over, Hetmyer (17) got run out. Iyer wanted to squeeze out a run but Venkatesh Iyer did well to throw the ball back on time to Dinesh Karthik and Hetmyer was well short of the crease.
In the end, Shreyas Iyer hit a six and four in the last over of the innings and took Delhi Capitals to a fighting total of 135/5 in 20 overs.
(With inputs from IANS)
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