A composed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) aced the run-chase of 154 against the Delhi Capitals at the Eden Gardens. Phil Salt's opening salvo of 68 off 33 deliveries made a massive difference on what was a tricky surface. Later, Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer stitched an unbroken 57-run stand to take the hosts over the finish line.
Delhi Capitals huffed and puffed their way to 153-9 against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens. KKR spinners and pacers tied the Capitals' batters alike in knots as Kuldeep Yadav surprisingly emerged as the top scorer with an unbeaten 35. The left-arm spinner's knock was instrumental in giving the visitors a fighting total.
Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant has won the toss and decided to bat first against hosts Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens. The Delhi Capitals keeper-batter cited the slowness of the wicket behind his decision to bat first and suggested that he hopes his spinners to come into the party in the 2nd innings.
The Capitals have brought their campaign with back-to-back wins over the Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians at home. Jake Fraser-McGurk has been a solid addition at the top of the order, given his strike rate is 238 currently. The likes of Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant, and Tristan Stubbs have also made massive contributions. However, the bowling unit still has some brushing up to do.
The Knight Riders, meanwhile, suffered a demoralizing loss to the Punjab Kings in their previous game. The two-time champions were clueless despite defending 261 as Jonny Bairstow's unbeaten 108 helped them raze down the target with 8 balls to spare, making it a record-breaking run-chase. Hence, they will be keen to put that behind and beat the Capitals. The home side have also brought back Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Delhi Capitals playing XI:
KKR playing XI: Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy.
DC playing XI: Prithvi Shaw, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Shai Hope, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Rasikh Dar Salam, Lizaad Williams, Khaleel Ahmed.
