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A performance of some authority from the Kolkata Knight Riders which will give them a lot of confidence after the tough loss against the Punjab when they chased down 262 with 8 deliveries to spare. This was a fairly different pitch to be honest but certainly not a 153 surface. The Capitals didn't get enough runs on the board and the way Phil Salt came out blazing, it was always going to be a cakewalk for the hosts. The Capitals have a week off from now on and they will be hoping to get themselves up and running and spend some time off the field. For KKR, it's time to consolidate on their impressive performances in the competition. KKR faces Mumbai Indians in their next game on May 3. The IPL carnival continues tomorrow with the Lucknow Supergiants locking horns against the Mumbai Indians. Join us then and for all other sporting actions but for now this is me (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) bidding adieu on the behalf of my fellow commentator and good mate Pragadeesh. Goodnight! Cheers!
Varun Chakravarthy (Player of the Match): It was holding a bit and as the game like that, when the first catch was dropped I knew that was a better ball. When I got the wicket it would have gone for a six in any other ground. The Tristan Stubbs wicket was my favourite. My plan was to bowl the leg spin and it worked. Silence is our communication between me and Narine (chuckles). The whole team environment is great. Abhishek Nayar and even Shahrukh Khan spoke to me. That gave me a lot of confidence as losing after scoring 262 is always a tough pill to swallow.
Shreyas Iyer (KKR captain): Not at all considering the last few matches (on whether he thought the pitch would behave in the manner it did). Again we thought 200 will be a par score but after the powerplay the pitch became tacky and the pitch was helping the spinners. It helped us a lot while chasing. Salt is always engrossed in the game and it's a pure bliss to watch him. He (Chakravarthy) wasn't at his best in the last few games but have come back strongly today. The way he turned up today was simply brilliant. Absolutely we have been thinking right from match one to qualIfy as early as possible as anything can happen at the business end and see we can deliver at crunch situations.
Salt comes back for the 4th time and gets the award for hitting the most fours in the match.
Salt gets the 3rd in row for most sixes in the match.
He also gets the ultimate fantasy player or the match award.
Phil Salt gets the Electric Striker of the Match Award.
Philip Salt - It's good to be contributing. Bounced back from a tough game and we are very much pleased with our performance. It's high-risk at times but it is also putting the odds in your favour. You have to keep backing yourself and take the right options. The keeper has an extra advantage assessing the conditions. (On Sunil Narine) Off-field, we have a laugh and on-field we don't do it much. Sunil is a deep-thinker and stays calm always. It also part of our communication - If one us gets going the other batter gives the strike
Rishabh Pant (Delhi Capitals Captain) - I think that was a good option to bat first but we didn't bat well. 150 was below par but it's part and parcel of the game. We learn from our mistakes. The way we were progressing as a team is quite good but it happens in T20 cricket, we can't get away every time. Anything above 189-210 will be a good score but as a batting unit we didn't give enough runs for the bowlers work around
Kolkata Knight Riders won by 7 wickets (with 21 deliveries to spare)
Philip Salt 68(33) | Varun Chakravarthy 3/16(4) Kuldeep Yadav 35(26) | Axar Patel 2/25(4)
It was a stroll in the park for the Kolkata Knight Riders as they romped home against the Delhi Capitals by 7 wickets and with 21 deliveries left to register their 6th win of the competition and also solidify their second spot. The target of 154 was never going to challenge the Knight Riders until the Delhi Capitals bowlers picked early wickets. However, that was sold down the river with Lizaad Williams getting smashed for 23 runs in the opening over.
Phil Salt was all over the South African pacer, smashing him to different parts of the Eden Gardens. It was a good first couple of overs from Khaleel Ahmed but the carnage was happening at the other end. Boundaries kept flowing from the blade of Phil Salt. Sunil Narine also joined in the act in the 5th over bowled by Rasikh Salam Dar. Khaleel was given a 3rd over and that didn't go in DC's favour.
Salt picked the change of pace and bashed him for 18 runs to make it a massive powerplay for KKR. A score of 79 in the first six overs while chasing 154 almost put the bowling team out of the contest and that was exactly the case here. Salt raced to a 26-ball half-century but just post the powerplay Axar Patel broke the opening stand by sending back Narine but the damage was already done.
Salt was eventually castled by an arm ball from Axar after scoring a match-winning 68 off 33 deliveries which included 7 fours and 5 sixes. Rinku Singh was sent up the order but he couldn't quite contribute in the manner he would have wanted. He top-edged one straight up in the air after a run a ball 11 and perished at the hands of Lizaad Williams. Three quick wickets did put the brakes on the scoring rate but that was not going to affect the eventual result of the game.
The two Iyer's, Venkatesh and Shreyas Iyer took the onus on themselves to take their side home without any further hiccups. Both took their time initially but struck some boundaries in between to never allow the Capitals to claw their way back. While Shreyas remained unbeaten on 33 off 23 deliveries, Venkatesh was undefeated on 26 off 23. There weren't any alarm bells after the three wickets as KKR coasted home by 7 wickets. Axar Patel was the pick of the DC bowlers, bagging a couple of wickets.
Shorter boundary towards the off side and Venkatesh Iyer finishes it off by drilling that up and over the extra cover fence. What a dominating performance from the Knight Riders as they return to winning ways after a tough loss against the Punjab Kings. The home team did everything right today and on a pitch which again looked a belter, they restricted DC to 153 which proved nowhere close to be enough in the end.
16.3 Rasikh Salam to Venkatesh Iyer, SIX! Commanding victory for the hosts. Pitched up on a fuller length angling back, Venkatesh gets underneath the ball and crunches it hard over extra cover for a maximum
16.2 Rasikh Salam to Venkatesh Iyer, dug it short and it gets big on Venky. He tries to ramp this over the keeper but decides against playing the shot at the last second
16.1 Rasikh Salam to Venkatesh Iyer, off-pace delivery on a good length, Venkatesh charges down the track and drives it to extra cover
Rasikh Salam Dar [2-0-24-0] is back into the attack.
That's an astonishing shot from Shreyas Iyer to end the over. KKR just 3 runs away from winning this. A terrific shot from Shreyas, a reverse which carries over the deep cover point fence. This has been an utterly clinical performance from the home team and this will give them a lot of confidence going forward.
16
overs
151/3score
1
1
1
0
1
6
runs
Shreyas Iyer*
33(23)
Venkatesh Iyer
20(20)
Kuldeep Yadav
0/34
15.6 Kuldeep Yadav to Shreyas Iyer, SIX! It's time for innovation, says Shreyas. He doesn't fancy the reverse hit too ofter but the ball catches the sweet spot of the blade on this occasion. Flighted delivery on a good length, Shreyas reverses and sweeps it over backward point for a maximum
15.5 Kuldeep Yadav to Venkatesh Iyer, tossed up angling back on middle stump, swept down to deep backward square leg for one
Umpire review for a run out, Venkatesh Iyer was ambling along and had to scamper back to make his crease. Some part of his bat is behind the popping crease and Venkatesh survives.
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S Narine
R Pant
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Shreyas Iyer
*
Kuldeep Yadav
Eden Gardens, Kolkata
