IPL 2021: DC vs KKR Review – Prithvi Shaw’s brilliance overshadows Kolkata

Some fine collective bowling and brilliance with the bat from Prithvi Shaw ensured that Delhi Capitals got easy two points beating Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets. Delhi finished off the run chase with 21 balls to spare, completing an overall top-class performance. This was Delhi’s fifth win in this season in their seven matches.

Earlier in the evening, Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to bowl first. The plan of putting pressure on Kolkata early on worked quite well for the Capitals’ team. Nitish Rana got out early for 15 while Shubman Gill got a 43 from 38 balls. Rahul Tripathi made 19 and Dinesh Karthik got a quick 14. Andre Russell got some runs for his team in this game towards the death.

His 45 runs from 27 balls allowed the KKR team to finish on a high. They made 154 for 6 in 20 overs. For Delhi, Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav picked up two wickets each while Avesh Khan and Marcus Stoinis chipped in with a wicket each. As Kolkata finished off with a flurry of boundaries, Delhi Capitals started their innings in a similar fashion.

Shivam Mavi bowled a wide first up and then Prithvi Shaw smashed his next six balls for six consecutive fours. After this over, Shaw kept teeing off against the Kolkata bowling. Before one could blink an eye, Delhi had scored 66 in the first five overs. Shaw then notched up the fastest fifty in this season off 18 balls.

The run chase almost seemed like a walk in the park for the Delhi batsmen. Shikhar Dhawan eventually fell for 46 runs after an opening stand of 132 runs. Shaw couldn’t finish the chase but set up the platform with his 82 runs from 41 balls. Pat Cummins picked up three wickets late in the day, but it wasn’t enough to upset Delhi’s chase. Pant played a cameo of 16 runs from eight balls.

Top performers:

Prithvi Shaw:

The right-handed batsman continued his good run of knocks against KKR with another fifty. Today, he was in sublime touch guiding the Delhi run chase. His knock took the match away from Kolkata and didn’t allow them to get back into it. He set the tone quite nicely from the very word go.

Lalit Yadav:

The Delhi all-rounder was brought in to replace the experienced Amit Mishra in this team and did a very fine job for his captain. Controlling the middle overs, he picked up two important scalps of Sunil Narine and Eoin Morgan, both for ducks, to not allow Kolkata to get away with easy runs. He gave only 13 runs from three overs, and his spell was key in bringing KKR’s rate down.

Personal achievements/records:

• Nitish Rana played his 50th match for KKR.
• Andre Russell reached 6000 runs in T20 cricket.

Way Ahead:

Kolkata’s next match is against Bangalore on May 3. Delhi’s next game is versus Punjab Kings on May 2. Both the matches will be played in Ahmedabad.