Delhi Capital (DC) is back on track with a comfortable victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in the 25th match of the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Prithvi Shaw played an exceptional knock at the top, scoring 82 off 41 deliveries as DC chased down the total in the 17th over before the bowlers restricted KKR to 154/6.
Chasing 155, DC got off to a breath-taking start. Prithvi Shaw hit six consecutive boundaries against Mavi in the very first over of the innings and raced off to 24 off 6 deliveries. DC openers put KKR to the backfoot, right from the beginning. Shaw hit his first six in the 4th over and the fifty partnership was up already for the DC openers. At the end of the powerplay, DC was cruising at 67-0.
The duo continued playing top-class shots and maintained the run-rate, striking at 10 and over. Dhawan took his time while Prithvi took charge of the hitting. KKR nearly got Shaw’s wicket after the right-hander lofted Chakravarthy over the ropes as the ball passed through the hands of the outfielder.
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The hundred partnership was up for the opening wicket while the KKR bowling attack kept searching for that opening breakthrough. Shaw and Dhawan smashed a six each in the next two overs. Cummins finally dismissed Dhawan and ended the partnership after the left-hander was trapped in front. Rishabh Pant attacked Prasidh Krishna’s pace and smacked a four and six each.
KKR found some late success after Cummins dismissed Shaw and the DC skipper in the same over as both the batsmen tried to clear the fence. Stoinis hit the winning runs and DC chased down the total with 21 balls to spare.
Earlier, an unchanged KKR side was put in to bat first. KKR openers – Gill and Rana were striking at 6 and over. Rana smacked the first six of the innings in the fourth over, but the left-hander was stumped on the very next ball against Axar Patel. Gill and Tripathi creamed three fours in the next two overs and KKR was 45-1 at the end of the powerplay.
DC spinners – Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel kept things tight with the ball. Gill released the pressure with a maximum over deep mid-wicket against Patel in the eighth over. Stoinis found success in the 9th over after he got rid of Tripathi and KKR were 73-2 at the halfway stage of the first innings.
Lalit Yadav scalped two wickets in the 11th over. Both Morgan and Narine were gone without scoring. While Morgan chipped it to Smith in the outfield, Narine‘s off-stump was uprooted by the spinner. Gill couldn’t capitalize on a good start after the right-hander was dismissed for 43 off Avesh Khan’s bowling. Steve Smith completed 50 IPL catches after grabbing Gill’s catch.
Russell and Karthik added crucial 27 runs in the next three overs. Both batsmen tonked a six each but Karthik perished in the 17th over. Axar Patel got his second wicket after Karthik was trapped in front, attempting to play the reverse-sweep.
KKR scored 18 runs off the penultimate over by Rabada after Russell clobbered two huge sixes along with a four. The final over from Avesh Khan gave away 13 runs after Russell finished the innings in style with a maximum, helping KKR to put 154/6 on board.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals: 156/3 (Prithvi Shaw 82, Shikhar Dhawan 46; Pat Cummins 3/24 ) beat Kolkata Knight Riders: 154/6 (Andre Russell 45*, Shubman Gill 43; Lalit Yadav 2/13) by 7 wickets.
