IPL 2015: visitor KKR cruises home against DD

Captain Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav played smartly as they built a solid foundation for Kolkata's run chase.

Kolkata Knight Riders players during a practice session. File photo: K.R. Deepak

In the end, Kolkata chased down Delhi's target of 147 with 6 wickets in hand and 11 balls spare.

KKR got off to a good start despite losing couple of quick wickets. Captain Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav played smartly as they built a solid foundation for the run chase.

Once Yadav was dismissed, Yusuf Pathan joined hands with the skipper as they added a 50+ stand for the 4th wicket.

Gambhir scored a fine fifty but got out on the threshold of victory.

"We had a poor start as we lost too many wickets upfront which halted our progress. We did well to get to 146 which I thought was a decent score. But we couldn't put the ball in right areas to create pressure. We will eventually get there (winning a home game). We have a few days to work on and it is a long tournament. So, lot of work to be done." J.P. Duminy, captain, Delhi Daredevils

Earlier, some excellent bowling from Kolkata helped restrict Delhi Daredevils to 146/8, which may be considered a sub-par score on this wicket.

Delhi lost their first two wickets pretty cheaply as Mayank Agarwal and J.P. Duminy departed in quick succession.

Iyer got off to a good start but failed to capitalise, as was the case with Manoj Tiwary and Yuvraj Singh as Delhi kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Mathews, however, provided some impetus to the innings, smacking Narine for 20 runs in the 19th over which helped them get to over 145. It was an all-round bowling performance from Kolkata, whose pacers struck early while the spinners kept the lid on the scoring rate in the middle overs as Delhi just failed to gather any sort of momentum to the innings.

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to bowl against Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on Monday.

The teams:

Kolkata: R Uthappa (Wkt) , G Gambhir (Capt) , M Pandey , S Yadav , Y Pathan , R Doeschate , A Russell , P Chawla , S Narine , M Morkel , U Yadav

Delhi: M Agarwal , S Iyer , JP Duminy (Capt) , Y Singh , A Mathews , K Jadhav (Wkt) , M Tiwary , NC Nile , A Mishra , I Tahir , D Joseph