Chakravarthy, Salt propel KKR to seven-wicket win over DC
KOLKATA: 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 on Monday.
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; 23b) and Venkatesh Iyer (26 not out; 23b) then completed the chase as KKR cantered home in 16.3 overs to improve their net run-rate to 1.096.
KKR now have the best runrate in the 10-team standings as they consolidated their position at second place with 12 points from nine matches.
DC’s Lizard Williams will surely want to forget this outing. He bore the brunt of 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 from nine matches.
With Salt firing on all cylinders, KKR raced to 79 for no loss in six overs.
Left-arm spinner Axar Patel was introduced in the seventh over and he made an immediate
impact, dismissing Narine (15) while in his next over, he cleaned up Salt and one wondered why Delhi brought into play their spin attack only after the power play.
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 power play after Delhi opted to bat on a tacky wicket.
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; 20b), Tristan Stubbs (4; 7b) and impact sub Kumar Kushagra (1) during a match-turning spell of 3/16. The KKR bowlers dominated the power play, reducing Delhi to 67/3 on a pitch that seemed to be two-paced as batters struggled to get their timing right.
Making a return after missing the last two matches, seamer Arora seized the early initiative, striking twice for KKR inside four overs.