Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav scalped two wickets each as Delhi Capitals restricted Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a score of 154/6 in the allotted 20 overs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday.
For KKR, Shubman Gill got going with the bat as he played a knock of 43 runs. Andre Russell and Pat Cummins also played useful knocks of 45 and 11 respectively but KKR had to settle with a below-par score.
Asked to bat first, KKR did not get off to an ideal start as the side lost its opener Nitish Rana (15) in the fourth over. Patel had the left-handed batsman stumped and this brought Rahul Tripathi to the middle. Tripathi and Gill took KKR's score to 45/1 after the end of the sixth over.
Tripathi and Gill stitched together a 44-run partnership for the second wicket, but as soon as KKR started to dominate, Delhi Capitals stormed right back as Marcus Stoinis dismissed Tripathi (19). Skipper Eoin Morgan (0) and Sunil Narine (0) disappointed with the bat and as a result, KKR was reduced to 74/4 in the 11th over.
KKR's innings fell further into a slump in the 13th over as the set batsman Gill (43) handed a simple catch to Steve Smith at wide long-on off the bowling of Avesh Khan, reducing the side to 82/5. Dinesh Karthik next joined Andre Russell in the middle and the duo put on 27 runs for the sixth wicket.
However, in trying to increase the tempo of run-scoring, Karthik (14) ended up losing his wicket to Patel in the 17th over. In the final two overs, Russell and Cummins managed to add 31 more runs to the total, and as a result, KKR posted a score of more than the 150-run mark.
Brief scores: KKR 154/6 (Shubman Gill 43, Andre Russell 45*, Lalit Yadav 2-13) vs Delhi Capitals.
( With inputs from ANI )
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