New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy picked five wickets between themselves, including the duo making double strikes in their respective final overs, to help Kolkata Knight Riders beat Delhi Capitals by 14 runs and keep themselves in contention for an IPL 2025 playoffs spot at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday.
After KKR had their batters producing quick knocks at a great strike rate to post 204/9, it did seem like the 76-run stand between Faf du Plessis, who top-scored with 62, and Axar Patel, who smashed 43 despite an injured left hand.
But Narine and Chakaravarthy, despite initial expensive spells, made decisive double strikes in the 14th and 18th overs respectively, as DC went from 136/3 to eventually finish at 190/9, and suffered their third defeat at this venue.
Narine, with 3-29, was also stand-in captain and even ran out K.L. Rahul to ensure he had a memorable game with all-round contributions, while his bowling partner Chakaravarthy took 2-39, and were also supported by Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora and Andre Russell taking a wicket each.
DC’s chase began on a bad note as Abishek Porel sliced to mid-off against left-arm spinner Anukul Roy, who didn’t allow batters to break free by mixing up his deliveries nicely. Du Plessis made the most of the pace from Harshit Rana by smacking him for three boundaries, though he lost Karun Nair, who was trapped lbw by a straight yorker from Vaibhav Arora for 15.
After DC ended the power-play at 58/2, DC suffered a big blow when du Plessis stopped halfway and KL Rahul tried completing the quick single, but his late urgency didn’t help as he was caught just short of the crease by Narine’s direct hit from short fine leg.
Du Plessis continued to move forward by pulling and glancing Chakaravarthy for consecutive fours, before lofting him down the ground for six in a 16-run ninth over. Despite Axar picking boundaries via an injured left hand, including hitting two sixes off Narine, du Plessis got his fifty in 31 balls and then cut off a slower off-cutter from Harshit Rana to keep DC steady in the chase.
But Narine made a huge dent in DC’s hopes with a double strike in the 14th over – he had Axar lobbing a quicker ball to cover, while Tristan Stubbs was castled through the gate with an off-break delivery. Narine dealt DC another big blow in his final over as du Plessis heaved to deep mid-wicket.
It was then Chakaravarthy’s turn to make a double strike in the 18th over – Ashutosh Sharma reverse-hit to backward-point, while Mitchell Starc skied to the keeper. Vipraj Nigam kept the fight on for DC – lofting Chakaravarthy for six, before edging and lofting Rana for four and six respectively. He then smacked Russell for two boundaries via bottom-handed drives, before being castled by the all-rounder for 38, all but sealing the deal in KKR’s favour.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 204/9 in 20 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 44, Rinku Singh 36; Mitchell Starc 3-42, Axar Patel 2-27) beat Delhi Capitals 190/9 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 62, Axar Patel 43; Sunil Narine 3-29, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-39) by 14 runs
–IANS
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