Delhi Capitals batters survived some close moments before managing to pull off a four-wicket victory, their first in this edition, at the Kotla in New Delhi on Thursday.
Even a small target like 128 proved to be a tall task for the Capitals as their batters struggled against the Kolkata Knight Riders spinners. Needing seven off the final over, Axar Patel hit the winning runs with four balls left.
Had Litton Das not squandered an easy stumping chance against Lalit Yadav in the closing stages, it could have been worse for the home team. For the KKR, it was their third consecutive loss and fourth overall in six matches.
Axar Patel celebrates after dismissing KKR’s Mandeep Singh. Pictures courtesy PTI & IPL
David Warner played an innings of substance and laid the foundation for the chase during his 57 off 41 balls. He reached his fourth half-century in six games this season by pulling Anukul Roy behind square for four. But the Capitals captain perished trying to play the reverse sweep off Varun Chakravarthy.
The quick dismissals of Mitchell Marsh and Phil Salt and then Warner and Manish Pandey did expose the Capitals’ brittle batting.
With the wicket affording a bit of turn, KKR captain Nitish Rana’s part-time off spin proved to be handy and he finished with two wickets.
Apple CEO Tim Cook (right) spotted at the Kotla on Thursday with actress Sonam Kapoor Ahuja (left). Picture courtesy IPL
KKR had possibly planned for young Suyash Sharma as impact sub but were forced to go with Anukul instead following the batting debacle. But Anukul proved to be economical and varied his length to restrict the batters while providing two important breakthroughs.
Earlier, the Capitals bowlers put up an enterprising performance to restrict the Knight Riders to 127.
The start was delayed by an hour because of rain. While the Capitals bowlers made most of the conditions, the KKR batters failed to live up to the challenge.
Jason Roy managed to stick around for his 43 off 39 balls but there was hardly any effort from the others. The regular fall of wickets made it tough for the batters to find the momentum.
Andre Russell stepped up the run-rate in the closing stages with his 38 not out off 31 balls.
Roy worked hard for his 43 but off his 40th ball, he tried to clobber Kuldeep Yadav over square leg, but mistimed it. Impact sub Anukul, replacing Venkatesh Iyer, was trapped in front off the next ball. Umesh Yadav though managed to avert the hat-trick.
Umesh lasted another four balls before becoming a victim of Anrich Nortje. The fast bowler used his raw pace and targeted Umesh. He couldn’t have avoided that ball. Umesh swung across the line and sliced it to the left of the bowler who took an easy catch.
Russell struggled to get into his groove. He finally got going in the last over by Mukesh Kumar which yielded 19 runs, including three consecutive sixes. That at least provided the Knight Riders with a total to challenge the home team.
KKR replaced both their openers to try and bring some change to their opening woes. Both Litton Das and Roy made their debut for the franchise at the Kotla. The pair added exactly 15 before the Bangladesh batter departed trying to pull Mukesh Kumar from outside the off stump.
Venkatesh, who scored 104 against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, was dismissed for a two-ball duck. Nortje’s extra bounce and pace did the trick with Venkatesh late to attempt the back-foot punch.
