Kolkata Knight Riders opted to bowl first, same side for them. Delhi Capitals had a change, Stoinis replaces Tom Curran. The openers of DC gave a decent start of 32 runs before a googly from Chakravarthy dismisses Shaw (18). Surprisingly Stoinis who is playing his first match in the UAE leg was promoted up in the order ahead of Shreyas.
Despite the decent start, DC struggled, all credit goes to KKR spinners, not just economical but took wickets as well. Stoinis and Dhawan were not able to rotate the strike which eventually puts pressure on Stoinis (18) and he gets out. After the dismissal of Stoinis, none of the DC batsmen looked stable. Quick wickets of Dhawan (36), Pant (6) hits DC’s hope of 150+ score.
Hetmyer’s two big shots helped shift some momentum towards DC. But a suicidal run finished Hetmyer’s (17) impactful inning. Shreyas Iyer’s last-ball six helped Delhi Capitals reach 135-5. Chakravarthy (2 for 26), Mavi (1 for 27) helped KKR to restrict DC under 140.
136 isn’t a bad score in the Sharjah pitch. Powerplay overs could be the difference. The openers gave an outstanding start for the Knight Riders, they added 96 runs. Venkatesh Iyer was the difference, he scored 55 runs off 41 balls. 13 runs needed from 24 balls, and then comes the storm from DC. Avesh gave 2 runs and took 1 wicket in the 17th over. Rabada gave just 1 run and took 1 wicket in the 18th over. Nortje gave just 3 runs and took 1 wicket in the 19th over.
7 runs were needed off the last over, Ashwin took 2 wickets and suddenly the equation was 6 runs off 2 balls. Eventually, Rahul Tripathi hit a six and win the game for KKR by 3 wickets. Karthik (0), Morgan (0), Shakib (0), Narine (0), could have been the biggest choke but thanks to Tripathi. Bowling from DC was very ordinary except for the last 4 overs. They dropped a couple of catches, field position was an issue too as they gave a lot of singles too. With this victory, they reached the finals of IPL 2021, where they will meet CSK.
Venkatesh Iyer gets the player of the match award.
