Phil Salt’s explosive half-century put Kolkata Knight Riders back on winning ways as the host recorded an emphatic seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.
KKR rode on Varun Chakravarthy’s brilliant three-wicket haul to restrict DC to 153 before overhauling the modest target in the 17th over to post its sixth win.
Salt, let off on 15, took charge of the chase. He executed some clinical clean hitting, plundering seven fours and five sixes, primarily through cut, pull and drives, in a glorious 33-ball 68.
Quickfire knock
Salt, who collected 18 runs off the sixth over, reached his fourth 50 by hammering Khaleel Ahmed for a stunning six. He added 79 with Sunil Narine in 6.1 overs to put the home side in a commanding position.
Axar Patel claimed both the openers. Narine was caught in the deep, while Salt was played on. Rinku Singh fell cheaply, but the two Iyers, Shreyas and Venkatesh, ensured victory.
Earlier, KKR bowlers struck at regular intervals to dent DC’s progress. On their return, pacers Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora scalped three wickets even as the tourists plundered 66 runs in the PowerPlay.
Vaibhav asked some questions of the batters and captured two wickets. Prithvi Shaw was caught behind, while Shai Hope was bowled by a peach of a delivery.
Meanwhile, Starc got rid of the dangerous Jake Fraser-McGurk, who pulled one to Venkatesh Iyer at deep square-leg before Harshit Rana accounted for Abishek Porel.
Using the conditions
The crafty Varun and the accurate Narine combined well and enjoyed the slight turn on offer. The former began by taking the vital wicket of Rishabh Pant (27) and added two more to deny DC any scope of revival.
Pant (27), dropped by Harshit off Varun, could not capitalise on the ‘life’ he got on 18. The southpaw miscued another one to Shreyas at extra-cover.
Tristan Stubbs and impact player Kumar Kushagra were smartly caught by Salt, while Narine foxed Axar. Kuldeep Yadav (35 not out) utilised a reprieve to swing his bat to register his highest score and contribute some valuable runs.
Varun delights with a three-wkt. haul, while Vaibhav and Harshit scalp two wickets each
Scoreboard
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw c Salt b Arora 13 Jake Fraser-McGurk c VR Iyer b Starc 12 Abishek Porel b Harshit Rana 18 Shai Hope b Arora 6 Rishabh Pant c S Iyer b Varun 27 Axar Patel b Narine 15 Tristan Stubbs c Salt b Varun 4 Kumar Kushagra c Salt b Varun 1 Kuldeep Yadav not out 34 Rasikh Salam c S Iyer b Harshit Rana 8 Lizaad Williams not out 1 Extras: (LB-4, NB-1, W-9) 14
Total: (For 9 wickets in 20 overs) 153
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-30, 3-37, 4-68, 5-93, 6-99, 7-101, 8-111, 9-140
Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Mitchell Starc 3-0-43-1, Vaibhav Arora 4-0-29-2, Harshit Rana 4-0-27-2, Sunil Narine 4-0-24-1, Varun Chakravarthy 4-0-16-3, Andre Russell 1-0-10-0.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Phil Salt b Axar 68 (33b, 7×4, 5×6), Sunil Narine c Fraser-McGurk b Axar 15 (10b, 3×4), Rinku Singh c Kuldeep b Williams 11 (11b, 1×4), Shreyas Iyer (not out) 33 (23b, 3×4, 1×6), Venkatesh Iyer (not out) 26 (23b, 2×4, 1×6)
Extras: (lb-2, nb-1, w-1): 4
Total: (for three wkts. in 16.3 overs): 157.
Fall of wickets: 1-79 (Narine, 6.1), 2-96 (Salt, 8.1), 3-100 (Rinku, 9.2).
Delhi Capitals bowling
Williams 3-0-38-1, Khaleel 3-0-28-0, Rasikh 2.3-0-30-0, Axar 4-0-25-2, Kuldeep 4-0-34-0.
Toss: DC; PoM: Varun
KKR won by seven wickets with 21 deliveries remaining.
