In a first, Kolkata Knight Riders posted consecutive three victories in the history of IPL during the early phases of the cash-rich tournament. On Wednesday, they got three in three after thumping victory over Delhi Capitals at Vizag by a huge margin of 106 runs. It was an absolute carnage – first with the bat and then with the ball as the visitors completely crushed the hosts securing top rankings in the IPL points table. Thanks to their brilliant victory margin, KKR have bettered their NRR. The only other team that has got a 100 per cent winning record in this edition of Indian Premier League – Rajasthan Royals. 

Winning the toss, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer opted to bat first. The first and the only setback that KKR suffered was the wicket of their opener Phill Salt. The KKR had already started their game on a powerful note. KKR were 60/1 and power play was still on. From there on, KKR batters – Sunil Narine young Angkrish Raghuvanshi plundered the DC bowlers. Sunrisers Hyderabad’s score of 277 was under serious threat at Vizag. Still, the blitz by Narine (85 off 39), Raghuvanshi (54 off 27) powered KKR to post the second highest total in the history of IPL – 272/7. This also included a sensational cameo by Rinku Singh (26 off 8) and in-form Andre Russell’s knock of 41 off 19 deliveries that come to an end due to a killer yorker by Ishant Sharma.   

The Capitals appeared to be out of contention from the start, struggling both with the ball and the bat. They succumbed to the pressure of chasing a mammoth total.

Skipper Rishabh Pant managed to score his second consecutive half-century with 55 runs, while Tristan Stubbs also contributed with a fifty, scoring 54 runs. However, their efforts were in vain as DC collapsed and were bundled out for 166 runs in just 17.2 overs, marking their third loss of the season.

Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders Score Card

Delhi Capitals:

  • David Warner b Starc 18
  • Prithvi Shaw c Chakaravarthy b Vaibhav Arora 10 Mitchell Marsh c Ramandeep Singh b Starc 0
  • Abishek Porel c Narine b Vaibhav Arora 0
  • Rishabh Pant c Shreyas Iyer b Chakaravarthy 55 Tristan Stubbs c Starc b Chakaravarthy 54
  • Axar Patel c Manish Pandey b Chakaravarthy 0
  • Sumit Kumarc Manish Pandey b Narine 7
  • Rasikh Dar Salam c Salt b Vaibhav Arora 1
  • Anrich Nortje c Shreyas Iyer b Russell 4
  • Ishant Sharma not out 1
  • Extras: (b-4, lb-6, w-5, nb-1) 16
  • Total: 166 all out in 17.2 overs
  • Fall of wickets: 21-1, 26-2, 27-3, 33-4, 126-5, 126-6, 159-7, 159-8, 161-9 Bowling: Mitchell Starc 3-0-25-2, Vaibhav Arora 4-0-27-3, Andre Russell 1.2-0-14-1, Sunil Narine 4-0-29-1, Varun Chakaravarthy 4-0-33-3, Venkatesh Iyer 1-0-28-0.

Kolkata Knight Riders:

  • Philip Salt c Tristan Stubbs b Nortje 18
  • Sunil Narine c Pant b Mitchell Marsh 85
  • Angkrish Raghuvanshi c Ishant b Nortje 54
  • Andre Russell b Ishant 41
  • Shreyas Iyer c Mitchell Marsh b Khaleel Ahmed 18
  • Rinku Singh c Warner b Nortje 26
  • Venkatesh Iyer not out 5
  • Ramandeep Singh c Prithvi Shaw b Ishant 2
  • Mitchell Starc not out 1
  • Extras: (b-4, lb-2, w-15, nb-1) 22
  • Total: 272/7 in 20 overs
  • Fall of wickets: 60-1, 164-2, 176-3, 232-4, 264-5, 264-6, 266-7 Bowling: Khaleel Ahmed 4-0-43-1, Ishant Sharma 3-0-43-2, Anrich Nortje 4-0-59-3, Rasikh Dar Salam 3-0-47-0, Sumit Kumar 2-0-19-0, Axar Patel 1-0-18-0, Mitchell Marsh 3-0-37-1.

(With PTI inputs)