New Delhi: A spirited all-round performance from Kolkata Knight Riders outclassed heavyweights Delhi Capitals by three wickets in the 41st match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 Phase 2 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Today's win, without star player Andre Russell in playing XI, will certainly boost Kolkata's confidence. This is KKR's 3rd win out of four games they have played so far in the UAE leg of the tournament. This is KKR's fifth win from 11 matches in IPL 14 and with 10 points, they remain at number four spot in IPL 2021 Points table.
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and invited Delhi Capitals to bat first. None of the Delhi batsmen could really manage to fire with the bat, not a single Delhi batter from such a star-studded lineup managed to hit a six today.
Delhi set a target of 128 runs for the win against Kolkata, which they achieved after losing seven wickets. For Kolkata, Nitish Rana scored an unbeaten 36, while Shubman Gill and Sunil Narine made valuable contributions with 30 and 21 runs, respectively.
Chasing 131 for the win, Delhi lost three wickets within four runs, taking their score to 92 for six. The team had managed to score 100 runs in the 17th over. Skipper Pant held one end but couldn't play any big shots to up the run-rate and eventually got run out in the final over. The Delhi captain, who scored the maximum 39 runs for his team, hammered three fours during his 36-ball innings.
KKR playing XI: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Sandeep Warrier, Varun Chakaravarthy
DC playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Steven Smith, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan