Delhi Capitals players celebrate a wicket in Sharjah on Saturday.
Delhi Capitals juggernaut is back at its full strength with their third and important win over Kolkata Knight Riders at the high-scoring ground of Sharjah International Stadium on Saturday.
As expected the game was marred with fireworks throughout the game, majority of which was seen in the first innings when DC skipper Shreyas lyer led from the front with an 88-run knock, while Prithvi scored a flawless 66 upfront, to post an imposing 229 target.
In reply, KKR could come close to the target after some late belting from Eoin Morgan (44 off 18) and Rahul Tripathi (36 off 16). But both fell in the closing stages as KKR fell short by 18 runs at the end. KKR top order will have to take the blame for misfiring as apart from Nitish Rana’s feisty 50, none of them prospered on the field.
Anrich Nortje (3/33) was pick among DC bowlers as he pitched in with key wickets in closing stages including Eoin Morgan. Harshal Patel picked couple of wickets while Amit Mishra, Marcus Stoinis and Kagiso Rabada chipped in a wicket each.
Chasing 228, Sunil Narine couldn’t deliver on a pitch that was apt for his batting style as he was clean bowled by Andre Nortje in the middle over. Nitish Rana had to do the cover job for Narine once again as the southpaw shot two sixes off Ashwin to take the pressure off KKR.
Along with Shubman Gill (28 off 22), Nitish stitched a 41-ball 64-run partnership before the opener fell to Amit Mishra in the eight over with the scoreboard reading 72/2.
The match had some bad news for the winning side after their experienced spinner had to leave the field with an arm injury and could only ball only two overs in the game. Mishra did leave his impact on the game as he caught the big fish Shubman Gill at a crucial stage.
With the tall ask in front, DK promoted the hard-hitting Andre Russell up the order but the burly Jamaican could only manage 13 runs during his short stay before falling to DC’s ever-reliant Kagiso Rabada.
Rana (58 off 35) soon completed his half-century with skipper Dinesh Karthik at the other end at no.5. However wickets soon started falling thick and fast. Rana and DK (6 off departed one after another in the 13th over after some smart bowling by Harshal Patel and was followed in quick succession by Pat Cummins (5 off 4); leaving KKR reeling at 122/5.
However, KKR’s batting wasn’t over yet with Eoin Morgan and no.8 Rahul Tripathi stitching a 78-run stand off just 30 balls to put KKR back in the game. But the duo fell in the 19th and 20th over respectively before finishing off the job.
Earlier sent in to bat first, Delhi Capitals looked to make the best out of the powerplays as runs were at the offering on this flat surface.
Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan took turns to clobber five boundaries and three sixes in the powerplay with Delhi’s 50 coming up at the end of the fifth over.
Dhawan (26 off 16) couldn’t convert another good start into a big innings and fell to Varun Chakravarthy in the sixth over.
Shaw continued his onslaught to reach his fifty in style with a six in the 11th over while also taking DC past the 100-mark. No.3 Shreyas Iyer also scored at a brisk rate from the other end in a 73–run second-wicket stand.
The partnership, that saw six maximums and three boundaries, came to a halt after Kamlesh Nagarkoti removed the set opener for 66 off 41
The skipper carried off the good work from here as he reached his 50 off 26 while scoring at a strike rate 196.50.
Pant too was in no mood to play second fiddle with a 17-ball 38 that included five fours and a six
Last five overs were a nightmare that KKR desperately wanted to end as the duo thwacked the bowlers at will.
Pant couldn’t carry his bat to the end of the innings after hitting Russell’s yorker straight at Mavi at long-on. Russell picked one more wicket in his last over and gave away just seven runs to cap off team's best bowling spell of 29/2.
The fall of wicket didn’t stop runs from coming with last five over fetching 77 runs. Skipper Iyer did most of the damage with six maximums and seven boundaries to score 38-ball 88.
Oz pacer Pat Cummins proved to be most expensive with 49 runs of his quota of overs. Sunil Narine too was lacklustre as he gave away 26 runs in 2 overs.
