DC vs KKR: Kuldeep Yadav fires Delhi Capitals to victory despite Rishabh Pant's bizarre captaincy
IPL 2022, DC vs KKR: Kuldeep Yadav and David Warner starred with bat and ball as Delhi Capitals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 4 wickets at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
In Short
- DC beat KKR by 4 wickets to move to No.6 on the points table
- Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for DC with figures of 4 for 14
- David Warner smashed a quickfire 42 to help DC chase down 147
Delhi Capitals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 4 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday and moved to No.6 on the IPL 2022 points table. Kuldeep Yadav (4 for 14) starred with the ball before David Warner (42) laid the foundation for the chase of 147.
DC overcame a middle-order collapse thanks to Rovman Powell (33 not out) and Axar Patel (24) who played useful cameos to give the side their fourth win of the season.
After Kolkata Knight Riders were put in to bat, they were jolted immediately when Chetan Sakariya dismissed Aaron Finch. Nitish Rana smashed a half-century and Shreyas Iyer tried to lead from the front and give KKR's score some sense of respectability but his efforts were thwarted by Kuldeep Yadav and KKR's own batters whose shot-selection must have been disconcerting for the coaching staff at the dug-out.
DC vs KKR, IPL 2022 Highlights
Despite some inexplicable tactics from KKR, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh did well towards the end to take KKR to 146 for 9 off their 20 overs. While KKR's strategies were strange, DC's decision to go with Lalit Yadav and Shardul Thakur in the death overs raised more eyebrows. Kuldeep Yadav, who took 4 for 14, and Chetan Sakariya bowled only three overs from their full quota of four overs.
DC INNINGS
Delhi Capitals lost Prithvi Shaw to the first ball of their innings when Umesh Yadav took a smart return catch. Chasing 147 for a crucial win, DC would have hoped for another explosive start to improve their net run-rate in the process but that wasn't to be.
IPL 2022 Points Table
Mitchell Marsh, making a comeback after recovering from Covid-19, started well but became Harshit Rana's maiden IPL wicket in his first over.
Despite the early blows, David Warner continued to be aggressive. Without taking many risks, Warner scored at a brisk rate and added 65 for the third wicket with Lalit Yadav.
Warner looked well set for a half-century but Umesh Yadav bounced him out in his third over and DC's 10th to give the Knight Riders a glimmer of hope. In the very next over, Sunil Narine dismissed Lalit Yadav and then in the 12th over, Umesh Yadav picked his third wicket to dismiss Rishabh Pant who edged it to the wicketkeeper after getting a faint edge trying to drive a length ball.
Unlike Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer's captaincy was spot-on and he used his resources smartly. The KKR skipper knew he needed to seal the game and he exhausted Umesh Yadav's quota of fours overs with eight more still to go. Umesh finished with 3 for 24 to give KKR a real chance.
DC still had some good batters left to do the job for them. Axar Patel had joined Rovman Powell in the middle with five wickets down and Shardul Thakur waiting his chance.
Axar Patel smashed 24 off 17 but he was run-out against the run of play and it seemed like the game was headed for a tight finish with DC needing 34 off 5 overs with 4 wickets in hand.
Rovman Powell kept a cool head and steered DC to a comfortable victory with an over and four wickets to spare.
KULDEEP'S MENACE
Kolkata Knight Riders got off to a horrible start with the bat and could never recover despite a fluent 42 from skipper Shreyas Iyer. Chetan Sakariya, making his debut for Delhi Capitals, started the damage for KKR when he dismissed Aaron Finch in his first over. It was a poor shot from Finch and one that should get the Australia captain thinking.
Aaron Finch's opening partner Venkatesh Iyer was the next man to go when he was caught by Chetan Sakariya standing inside the circle at fine leg in Axar Patel's first over.
Shreyas Iyer was looking good against his former team even as his partners fell quickly at the other end. Shreyas had hit a fifty in KKR's previous match against DC and on Thursday, he looked determined again.
However, Kuldeep Yadav rocked the Knight Riders in his four overs. He first dismissed debutant Baba Indrajith and Sunil Narine off successive balls in his first over before sending back Shreyas, smartly caught by Rishabh Pant. Kuldeep, who was with KKR until last year, then snared Andre Russell for a duck.
KKR, the runners-up in 2021, were in all kinds of trouble and they pinned their hopes on Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh.
It was a bizarre batting approach from KKR. Sunil Narine had opened in their previous match but on Thursday, he was back in the middle-order and batted ahead of specialist batters like Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and Andre Russell.
In a strange move, Rishabh Pant decided to go to part-time spinner Lalit Yadav in the 17th over even though he had Kuldeep and Mustafizur Rahman to choose from. Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh accepted Pant's offerings gleefully and took 17 runs off the over.
Nitish Rana went on to score a superb half-century and brought up a fifty-run stand with Rinku Singh.
Rishabh Pant's captaincy was questionable despite some sterling efforts behind the stumps . Pant brought on Shardul Thakur for the 19th over even as he had the option of using either Sakariya or Kuldeep, two of DC's best bowlers on the night. Thakur had gone for 11 in his first over and 16 in his third. Mustafizur was given the final over of the innings which meant DC's most successful bowler Kuldeep Yadav and Chetan Sakariya managed to bowl only three overs.
Mustafizur finished with three wickets off the final over but at one stage during the KKR innings, DC would have hoped to restrict their opposition for much lesser.