Chasing the highest total of this season so far, Kolkata Knight Riders slumped to a 18-run loss against Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday, 3 October.
Put in to bat, DC made the most of the short boundaries on offer at the Sharjah International Cricket Stadium, scoring a mammoth 228/4 courtesy half-centuries by Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer as well as a quick-fire knock by Rishabh Pant.
In response, KKR could manage just 210/8 despite a valiant effort from Eoin Morgan and Rahul Tripathi in the last six overs.
With their third win in four games, Delhi moved to the top of the points table while KKR stayed at fifth with four points.
Delhi Capitals’ Innings
Delhi Capitals’ openers stitched a 56-run stand before Varun Chakravarthy gave KKR their first breakthrough by removing Shikhar Dhawan for 26 (off 16 balls) in the sixth over.
Opener Shaw combined with skipper Iyer to add another 73 runs, and reached the 50-run mark in 35 balls – his second half-century this season, and sixth overall. The partnership was eventually broken with Shaw getting caught out in the deep by Shubman Gill off a delivery by Kamlesh Nagarkoti for 66 (off 41 balls).
The 20-year-old, who had scored a 64 against Chennai Super Kings earlier in the league, smashed four boundaries and four sixes during his knock on Saturday.
Iyer carried the innings forward with wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant as the duo added another 72 runs together. The skipper scored his first fifty this season and also his fastest IPL half-century, reaching the double-digit figure off 26 deliveries.
Pant eventually fell to Andre Russell after hitting a six and five boundaries but Iyer remained not out at the end of the innings. The captain’s knock included six sixes and seven fours.
KKR pacer Pat Cummins had a bad day at the office, leaking 49 runs in his four overs without a scalp. Russell returned with 2/29 while Nagarkoti and Varun picked up a wicket each.
KKR’s Innings
Sunil Narine delivered yet another disappointing performance with the bat at the top of the order, departing for 3 in the second over. His fellow opener Shubman then combined with Nitish Rana to stitch a 64-run stand, taking KKR to 72/1 in 8 overs.
After Amit Mishra removed Gill for 28, big-hitting Andre Russell was promoted up the order. However, he too could not make a mark, and departed for an 8-ball 13.
Harshal Patel picked up two scalps in two balls of the 13th over – dismissing Rana (58 off 35 balls) and Dinesh Karthik (6). Pat Cummins fell to Nortje in the next over, and reduced KKR to 122/6 in 13.3 overs, still needing 107 from 30 balls.
From there, Eoin Morgan and Rahul Tripathi stitched a blistering 78-run partnership that reduced their required rate to 31 needed off 12 balls.
The pair smashed 24 runs in the 17th over and 23 runs off the 18th over. However, Anrich Nortje came in for the penultimate over and pulled things back for DC, accounting for the wicket of Morgan (18-ball 44) in the process.
Marcus Stoinis was handed the ball for the final over, with 26 runs to defend. Tripathi smashed a four on the first ball, but was castled on the next delivery for 36 (off 16 balls). His knocked included three sixes and three boundaries.
Eight wickets down, KKR needed 22 runs off the last four balls, but youngsters Mavi and Nagarkoti could not cross the line for them.
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