Southpaws Rana and Narine steer Kolkata to crucial win over Delhi

The Kolkata bowlers made optimum use of the slow track to restrict Delhi to 127 for nine. The left-handed duo of Rana (36 not out off 27 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) and Narine (21 off 10 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes) went after spinner Lalit Yadav and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada respectively in the 14th and 16th over to tilt the game in KKR’s favour.

The loss would be a wake-up call for the second-placed DC, which remains on 16 points from 11 matches. Following the win, Kolkata has 10 points from 11 games. On a surface where run-scoring was difficult, Delhi did well till the 13th over when KKR was struggling at 76 for the loss of four wickets.

However, DC skipper Rishabh Pant had by then finished Ravichandran Ashwin’s (1 for 24 off 4 overs) quota and had to rely on Lalit’s fast off-breaks. Rana used the long handle to strike two maximums as 20 runs came off that over.

In the 16th over, Narine launched into Rabada and got 21 runs, which put his side in the driver’s seat. Despite some late jitters, Rana finished the match in style with a slashed boundary off pacer Anrich Nortje. Earlier, the KKR bowlers justified skipper Eoin Morgan’s decision to put DC into bat as the ball stopped before coming onto the bat.

For Delhi, only Steve Smith (39 off 34 balls, 4 balls) and skipper Rishabh Pant (39 off 36 balls, 3 fours) could cross the 30-run mark. Not a single six was hit during the innings. Opener Shikhar Dhawan (24 off 20 balls) hit five boundaries in quick time before Venkatesh Iyer pouched him at point off Lockie Ferguson (2 for 10).

After the powerplay, DC was 39 for one but it soon became 40 for two as Narine (2 for 18) castled Shreyas Iyer (1) in the seventh over. Pant then joined makeshift opening batsman Smith, with the latter smashing successive fours in the 10th over off Varun Chakravarthy.

The Australian looked in fine touch, but Ferguson dismissed him as Delhi slipped to 77 for three. Kolkata then grabbed three quick wickets, with Shimron Hetmyer (4), Lalit Yadav (0) and Axar Patel (0) falling in quick succession. With Pant failing to up the ante, Venkatesh (2 for 29) bowled really well in the back-10 by mixing it up nicely.

Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 127/9 in 20 overs (S Smith 39, R Pant 39, L Ferguson 2/10, S Narine 2/18, Venkatesh 2/29) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 130/7 in 18.2 overs (N Rana 36*, S Gill 30, Avesh 3/13)