The victory was achieved thanks to skipper Warner’s fifty and strong bowling. After five straight losses, Delhi Capitals at long last opened their record in the sixteenth version of IPL.
At the Ferozeshah Kotla ground on Thursday, Delhi, however, struggled their way to the target of 128 with four wickets in hand and four balls remaining against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Delhi bowlers Ishant Sharma, Anrich Nortje, Axar Patel, and Kuldeep Yadav each took two wickets to keep KKR at 127 for the loss of a run.
David Warner, Delhi’s skipper, scored the most runs with 57 from 41 deliveries. But Delhi almost lost the chase when he was bowled out in the 14th over.
The KKR spinners were very good at applying the choke, with the exception of Sunil Narine, who gave up 36 runs in four overs. Even Nitish Rana.
KKR skipper, and part-time off-spinner, was difficult to escape. He bowled 2/17 in his four overs.
With 31 runs scored in the first three overs.
Delhi, whose batting was crippling them in their five losses, got off to a rollicking start in their run chase.
This season, Warner’s strike rate has been mocked, but on Thursday, he was able to easily hit the boundary in the first few innings.
Warner increased Delhi to 61/1 at the conclusion of the powerplay. Despite the cheap dismissal of Prithvi Shaw, who had been brought in as an Impact Player.
KKR may have hoped that Sunil Narine would be able to stop the run flow. But the left-hander outplayed him as well. In the sixth over of the innings, the experienced spinner gave up four fours.
The Australian would have preferred to see the chase through after scoring fifty off 33 deliveries. Varun Chakaravarthy bowled him out in the 14th over of the innings.
With 35 required off the last six overs, Delhi ought to have crossed the end goal effortlessly then they made due.
The game started an hour later than planned because of intermittent rain, and the Delhi bowlers took advantage of the assistance early on.
After the first six overs, Knight Riders were 35/3, and all three of their wickets were lost due to the extra bounce.
Nortje climbed on Venkatesh Iyer’s outside edge with a length delivery as Mukesh Kumar pulled Litton Das out with a short ball to Lalit Yadav at square leg.
That Warner decided to keep Swamp at slip-delivered profits. During the powerplay, Rana was also sent off after attempting an uppish on-drive against Ishant but only hitting Kumar at midfield.
Mandeep Singh hit a six during his 11-ball 12, however, he was excessively saucy to his benefit against Axar. He failed to connect on a ramp attempt over a short fine leg for four and was bowled.
Before long, left-gave players Rinku Singh and Narine holed out in the profound while going for success.
Ishant beat Narine out of the match with impressive scores of 4-0-19-2. It was an essential rebound to the association for the 34-year-old pacer after he went unsold last season.
This while, Jason Roy remained steady toward one side. The England opener, making his Kolkata Knight Riders debut, hit consecutive fours against Kumar.
He first drove a ball outside off stump through the cover and then flicked a delivery through midwicket with his pads.
Roy, on the other hand, fell as wickets kept falling. For a period of seven overs following the powerplay, his only boundary was a six-over long-on against Kuldeep in the tenth over.
However, the opener’s death in the very next over ended any hopes of a quick partnership. He made a mistake when he swept Aman Khan off a googly at a deep backward square leg.
Kuldeep also stuck to the googly for his next ball, snatching Anukul Roy, KKR’s impact sub, leg before the wicket.
With only 26 balls remaining in the innings and KKR nine down, Russell was solely responsible for hitting a boundary. Russell’s innings were strange, though.
He had only played 19 runs out of 25 deliveries at the start of the 20th over. He made amends when Kumar hit three sixes in a row in the final over.