(UTV | INDIA) – Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals on Thursday defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 4 wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 match no. 41 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
After Kuldeep Yadav’s magical bowling spell, Rovman Powell and David Warner played remarkable knocks to take the team home with six balls to spare. The victory helped DC taking the sixth spot on the points table.
Batting never looked easy on Thursday night as both teams suffered initial jolts in their respective innings. While chasing 147, Delhi Capitals suffered a blow off the very first ball as Umesh Yadav pulled off a stunning caught and bold to dismiss Prithvi Shaw for a golden duck.
Before the team could recover from the loss and get back on track, Harshit Rana got the better of Mitchell Marsh who had returned to action after recovering from Covid-19. As Delhi needed a brisk partnership at the moment, David Warner teamed up with Lalit Yadav to keep the momentum going.
The situation seemed under control as the duo stitched a 65-run stand for the third wicket. But Umesh returned to bowl his second spell and broke the camaraderie. He restricted Warner from getting a half-century and removed him in the 10th over for a 26-ball 42.
The departure of Warner sparked the collapse of the DC middle-order; Narine trapped Lalit (22) in the next over while Umesh completed his spell after dismissing Rishabh Pant (2) to register figures of 3 for 24 in 4 overs.
Delhi lost their way a bit after that as Lalit Yadav and skipper Pant fell in quick succession but Axar Patel kept them in the hunt as he blasted a 17-ball 24 to take them to 36 off 30 deliveries at one stage. Patel was run-out at a crucial juncture, caught short going for a second run as Shreyas Iyer made a brilliant throw running in from the boundary.
But Rovman Powell saw them through in the end, hitting a 16-ball 33 to help them record their fourth win and move to sixth position with eight points. KKR remained in the eighth position with six points from nine matches.
Earlier, a clinical bowling show by Kuldeep Yadav (4/14) and Mustafizur Rahman (3/18) overshadowed a fine rear-guard half-century by Nitish Rana (57 off 34) and Delhi Capitals restricted Kolkata Knight Riders for 146/9 in 20 overs.
Kuldeep looked at his brilliant best against his old franchise and bowled like he had something to prove. He sent back KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer (42), Baba Indrajith (6), Sunil Narine (0) and Andre Russell (0) to finish with 4/14. It was a pity that he did not get to bowl his fourth over or could have completed a fifer.
Mustafizur started well but claimed three wickets in the 20th over, sending back Nitish Rana, Tim Southee and Rinku Singh — Rana and Southee off successive balls.
KKR could reach a modest total thanks mainly to Nitish Rana as he played himself in and then struck some lusty hits in the death overs. The Delhi batter struck three fours and four sixes during his 34-ball 57 which gave some respectability to the KKR score.