In a low-scoring IPL match on Tuesday, Nitish Rana kept his cool in a difficult chase as Kolkata Knight Riders kept their play-off chances alive with a three-wicket victory against Delhi Capitals. The KKR spinners took full advantage of the slow Sharjah surface to limit Delhi Capitals to 127 for nine. T20 expert Rana (36 not out) and seasoned Sunil Narine (21 off 10 balls) went after novice Lalit Yadav in the 14th over, as well as seasoned Kagiso Rabada in the 16th over, to help KKR win.
The loss would serve as a good wake-up call for DC, who are still in second place in the table with 16 points, while KKR are in fourth place with 10 points.
DC played well enough until the 13th over, when KKR were suffering at 76 for 4 on a resurfaced Sharjah track where run-scoring was difficult. Rishabh Pant, on the other side, had finished Ravichandran Ashwin’s quota (1/24 in 4 overs) and had to rely on Lalit Yadav’s quick off-breaks. As 20 came off that over, Rana used the long handle with two big sixes.
Despite some late nerves, Rana finished the match with a sliced boundary off Anrich Nortje in the 16th over, putting KKR in the driving seat.
Earlier, the KKR bowlers backed up skipper Eoin Morgan’s decision to put Delhi in to bat by demonstrating that the ball was halting before it reached the bat. Only Steve Smith (39) and skipper Rishabh Pant (39) scored more than 30 runs for the Delhi Capitals, as run-scoring appeared to be a challenging chore. During the entire innings, there was not a single six hit.
Shikhar Dhawan (24) of the Capitals struck five boundaries in short succession as he converted many balls into half volleys before Venkatesh pouched him at Lockie Ferguson’s point.
DC were 39 for one after the Powerplay, but they were shortly reduced to 40 for two when Sunil Narine (2/18) castled Shreyas Iyer (1) in the seventh over. Pant then joined Smith, who both struggled to score due to the lack of pace off the track with the balls not really getting onto the bat.
Varun Chakravarthy (0/24) was steady as usual, and Narine (2/18) chipped in as well. Smith tried a different gear in the 10th over, hammering consecutive fours off Chakravarthy, as Delhi scored 12 runs from that over. When Ferguson pegged back Delhi by castingling Smith as they slid to 77/3, the Australian slog swept Narine and seemed in his element.
Kolkata then took three fast wickets, dismissing Shimron Hetmyer (4), Lalit Yadav (0), who was caught in front by Narine, and Axar Patel (0) as Delhi was reduced to 92/6.
With Pant failing to raise the stakes, Venkatesh (2/29) bowled brilliantly in the back-10, mixing it up nicely at over 130 kmph and keeping Hardik Pandya on pins and needles, if not in the coming days, then certainly in the coming months.
Pant surpassed Virender Sehwag as the Delhi Capitals’ highest run scorer.
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