IPL 2022: DC won the match by 4 wickets against KKR

Mumbai: Delhi Capitals rode on a stupendous bowling show from Kuldeep Yadav to beat Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets in the IPL here on Thursday.

Set to chase 147, Delhi got there with one over to spare. Rovman Powell played a nice unbeaten cameo of 33 (16b, 1x4, 3x6) towards the end for Delhi and finished off the proceedings with a six. David Warner top-scored for Delhi with 42. Kolkata’s Umesh Yadav’s spectacular spell of three for 24 went in vain. Umesh got rid of the dangerous Prithvi Shaw off the first ball with a brilliant catch on his follow-through.

Earlier, Kolkata’s much-vaunted batting line-up imploded, failing to get a grip of Kuldeep Yadav’s deception and guile before Nitish Rana’s half-century became a face-saver in its total of 146 for nine against Delhi. A host of changes in the playing XI did seem to have affected the balance of Kolkata as its innings lacked momentum, save Shreyas Iyer (42 off 37 balls) and Rana (57 off 34 balls), who tried to get a move on.

Rana’s partnership of 62 for the seventh wicket with Rinku Singh (23 off 16 balls) proved to be a saving grace after the two-time champion slumped to 83 for six at one stage.

Kuldeep, who is in the middle of a brilliant season, finished with 4 for 14 which included the wickets of Shreyas and the dangerous Andre Russell.

If Kuldeep wreaked havoc in the middle overs, it was Mustafizur Rahaman (3/18 in 4 overs), who was brilliant at the death, giving away only two runs and picking up three wickets in the last over.

Kuldeep’s manner of using the flight in one delivery and suddenly increasing the pace in other was there for everyone to see. It was a bit surprising that skipper Rishabh Pant didn’t complete his quota of overs.

In the case of domestic veteran Baba Indrajith (6 off 8 balls), suffering from debut match nerves having waited for this day for 10 years, Kuldeep flighted one but the batter failed to reach the pitch of the delivery and didn’t get the elevation to get caught in the deep.

Punjab aims to stifle in-form KL Rahul

Punjab Kings would be keen to put brakes on Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul’s rollicking batting form and notch up a win when the two sides clash in an IPL game in Pune on Friday. Lucknow beat Mumbai Indians by 36 runs in its last game, while Punjab comes into the game after defeating Chennai Super Kings by 11 runs.

BRIEF SCORES: Kolkata Knight Riders 146/9 in 20 overs (N Rana 57, S Iyer 42, K Yadav 4/14, M Rahman 3/18) lost to Delhi Capitals 150/6 in 19 overs (D Warner 42, U Yadav 3/24)