A Knight to remember

Kolkata, April 29

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy worked his magic to claim three important wickets before Phil Salt’s scintillating half-century as Kolkata Knight Riders secured a convincing seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in the IPL here today.

Chakravarthy (3/16) shone in the middle overs following Vaibhav Arora’s fine start (2/29) that limited Delhi to a modest 153/9 after Rishabh Pant opted to bat.

On a two-paced pitch where most batters struggled, Salt capitalised on a reprieve on 15 to smash a 33-ball 68. He hammered five sixes and seven fours in a 79-run opening wicket partnership with Sunil Narine that came off just 38 balls.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer (33 not out off 23 balls) and Venkatesh Iyer (26 not out off 23 balls) then completed the chase as KKR cantered home in 16.3 overs.

DC’s Lizaad Williams will surely want to forget this outing. He bowled a wayward opening over that yielded 23 runs to set the tone for KKR’s easy chase. There was worse in store for Williams in the next over as he spilled a sitter from Salt.

There was no stopping the world No. 2 T20I batter from thereon as he brought up a 26-ball fifty, his fourth in nine matches. With Salt firing on all cylinders, KKR raced to 79/0 in six overs.

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel was introduced in the seventh over and he made an immediate impact, dismissing Narine (15). He then cleaned up Salt and one wondered why Delhi brought into play their spin attack only after the powerplay. Axar returned with 2/25, but Kuldeep Yadav went wicket-less while giving away 34 runs from his four overs.

Earlier, there were no fireworks for a change at this venue, which has witnessed record runs being scored and innumerable sixes being hit so far in the season.

The returning Arora (2/29) gave KKR a fine start in the powerplay after Delhi. Introduced in the ninth over, Chakravarthy then spun a web as he bowled his four overs on the trot and snared the key wickets of Rishabh Pant (27 off 20 balls), Tristan Stubbs and impact sub Kumar Kushagra. — PTI

Brief scores

DC: 153/9 in 20 overs (Kuldeep Yadav 34 not out; Chakravarthy 3/16, Harshit 2/28, Arora 2/29) vs KKR: 157/3 in 16.3 overs (Salt 68, Shreyas 33*)

Sunday’s results

GT: 200/3 in 20 overs (Sudharsan 84*, Shahrukh 58); RCB: 206/1 in 16 overs (Jacks 100*, Kohli 70*)

CSK: 212/3 in 20 overs (Gaikwad 98, Mitchell 52) vs SRH: 134 all out in 18.5 overs (Markram 32; Deshpande 4/27)

Not fitting like a glove?

Lucknow: With T20 World Cup selection round the corner, KL Rahul will have one final chance to prove himself worthy of the second wicketkeeper’s spot in the Indian team when Lucknow Super Giants host Mumbai Indians in the IPL here tomorrow. Rahul’s strike-rate in T20 cricket has always been a bone of contention. Despite the advantage of field restrictions in the powerplay, Rahul has often started his innings on a slow note in the IPL. However, the LSG captain has managed to shift gears this season. This season he has scored 378 runs at a strike-rate of 144.27 but it is still less than that of Rishabh Pant (160.60) and Sanju Samson (161.08). Meanwhile, pace sensation Mayank Yadav is expected to return, said LSG’s bowling coach Morne Morkel. PTI

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