Kolkata Knight Riders’ Eoin Morgan (44, 18b, 1x4, 5x6) and Rahul Tripathi (36, 16b, 3x4, 3x6) turned a stiff chase into an exhibition of power-hitting, but their side fell 18 runs short of Delhi Capitals’ 228 in an IPL encounter at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
With KKR reeling at 122 for six, Morgan and Tripathi brought the team back into contention with a pulsating 78-run stand. Morgan was particularly severe on Kagiso Rabada (one for 51), hitting him for a hat-trick of sixes in the 18th over, after Tripathi had collected 22 off Marcus Stoinis in the previous over. However, Anrich Nortje's dismissal of Morgan followed by Tripathi's wicket in the final over bowled by Stoinis saw DC home.
Losing Narine early
KKR suffered an early setback when it lost opener Sunil Narine in the second over. But Shubman Gill (28, 22b, 2x4, 1x6) and Nitish Rana (58, 35b, 4x4, 4x6) were unfazed and accumulated 59 runs in the first six overs. Rana was dropped on 27 by Amit Mishra off his own bowling. But the leggie made amends in his next over, getting Gill caught by Rishabh Pant.
Andre Russell briefly entertained, hitting a four and a six off Rabada before the latter got rid of the all-rounder. Harshal Patel then removed Rana and Dinesh Karthik off successive deliveries in the 13th over to make things difficult for KKR.
Earlier, after KKR opted to bowl, Shreyas Iyer’s 38-ball 88 (7x4, 6x6) and Prithvi Shaw’s quickfire half-century (66, 41b, 4x4, 4x6) had powered the Capitals to the highest total of this edition.
Capitals got off to a brisk start with Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan (26, 16b, 2x4, 2x6) adding 56 for the first wicket. Delhi had raced to 50 in the fifth over before the Kolkata side broke through when Varun Chakravarthy removed Dhawan in the last over of PowerPlay.
On the go
However, Shaw continued to flourish. The opener sent a Shivam Mavi delivery over extra-cover for six, and brought up his half-century — his sixth in the IPL — with a six over long-on.
Shaw and Shreyas then waded into Varun in the 12th over, scoring 16 runs. But just as they looked to switch gears, Shaw fell.
Pant then scored a quick 38 (17b, 5x4, 1x6) even as Shreyas got his fastest fifty in the IPL (26 balls). The 20 runs the skipper blasted off the last over was worth its weight in gold.
