Delhi Capitals register fourth win in Indian Premier League

MUMBAI: Delhi Capitals registered their fourth win in 8 matches in IPL 2022 as they beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 5 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.

Chasing 147 to win, Delhi Capitals reached the target in 19 overs losing 5 wickets. They lost Prithvi Shaw in the first ball, but David Warner (42 from 26 balls), Lalit Yadav (22), Axer Patel (24 from 17 balls) and Rovman Powell (33no from 16 balls) saved the day for Delhi Capitals. Pacer Umesh Yadav took 3 wickets for 24 runs.

Earlier, clinical bowling by Kuldeep Yadav (4/14) and Mustafizur Rahman (3/18) overshadowed a fine rearguard half-century by Nitish Rana (57 off 34) as Delhi Capitals restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to 146/9 in 20 overs.

Kuldeep looked at his brilliant best against his old franchise and bowled like he had something to prove. He tossed up the ball, mixed the wrong 'un and sliders well and varied the pace. 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. But the two wickets off successive deliveries of Baba Indrajith and Narine broke KKR's back.

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.

Sent in to bat, the Kolkata top and middle order never got going as they struggled with the clinical bowling by the Delhi Capitals. They managed a poor 29/2 in the power-play overs and reached fifty runs at the halfway stage.

They reached 100 runs only in the 15th over and it was only due to Nitish Rana's heroics that they managed to reach a modest total.

Aaron Finch was the first to go, bowled by Chetan Sakaria with one that swung in a bit and the Aussie opener was totally beaten. Finch could have gone on the previous delivery but Rovman Powell dropped a regulation catch, running in from midwicket, sliding in to take the catch but the ball popped out of his hands. Finch was out for three and Kolkata had only four runs on the board.

Fellow opener Venkatesh Iyer (6 off 12) did not last long and was caught by Sakaria inside the circle as he attempted a sweep off Axar Patel but failed to connect properly. Sunil Narine went for a first-ball duck and Baba Indrajith did not last long and the Knight Riders were down to 35/4 in the eighth over.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer repaired the innings a bit with a 37-ball 42 and with Nitish Rana and raised 48 runs for the fifth wicket. Shreyas struck three fours during his stay, all to Axar Patel but the KKR batters could not break the stranglehold of Delhi Capitals bowlers -- especially Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel -- in the middle overs. Shreyas was given out by the video umpire after Kuldeep foxed him with a wrong 'un and Rishabh Pant pouched a low, shin-high, one-handed catch to end his innings.

Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 146/9 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 42, Nitish Rana 57; Kuldeep Yadav 4/14, Mustafizur Rahman 3/18) beat Delhi Capitals 150/5 (David Warner 42, Rovman Powell 33no, Umesh Yadav 3/24).

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