Bottom-placed Delhi Capitals dismiss KKR for 127 in rain-delayed tie

DC’s Ishant Sharma celebrates a KKR wicket with skipper David Warner yesterday. Pic/PTI

Light rains late in the evening gave Delhites much-needed respite from the severe heat and the change in weather also brought some good tidings for Delhi Capitals who were yet to win a match this IPL season. Having lost five straight matches, the Delhi team finally woke from their slumber as their bowlers put up a stupendous show to bundle out Kolkata Knight Riders for 127 in 20 overs.

Delhi Capitals made a desperate move of bringing in veteran pace bowler Ishant Sharma in a match that was delayed by an hour due to rain. Knowing the home conditions well, the lanky paceman was spot on and playing an IPL game after a gap of two years, (the last time being on

May 2, 2021, against Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad) he even picked up a wicket in his third over as Kolkata Knight Riders lost three wickets in the first Powerplay. Ishant had his Delhi Ranji teammate Nitish Rana caught at mid-on in the sixth over to put the visitors on the back foot. In an impressive opening three-over spell, Ishant gave away just 10 runs for the wicket of the rival captain. A short while later, he returned for his last over to grab the wicket of Sunil Narine to end up with two for 19. Having done his job, he was immediately replaced by Impact Player Prithvi Shaw at the end of the 12th over.

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Delhi had made early inroads by dismissing KKR's Bangladeshi recruit Litton Das and in-form Ventakesh Iyer. Mukesh Kumar and Anrich Norjte picked up the duo respectively to put Delhi in a strong position, with KKR struggling at 35-3 in six overs of the Powerplay

Thereon, the Delhi bowlers kept the pressure on the KKR batsmen and even got new sensation Rinku Singh cheaply. It was only due to Jason Roy's batting effort that KKR were able to reach three-figures. The Englishman played some lovely strokes till he fell to Kuldeep Yadav for 43. The Delhi bowlers for once were impressive, leaving the batsmen with the task of finally notching up a win this season on the sixth attempt.

Brief scores
KKR 127 in 20 overs (J Roy 43, A Russell 38; A Patel 2-13, K Yadav 2-15, I Sharma 2-19, A Nortje 2-20) v DC (scores incomplete)