IPL 2023 Match 28: Delhi Capitals get off the mark beating Kolkata Knight Riders in tense low scoring thriller

Delhi Capitals got off the mark today, beating Kolkata Knight Riders by 4 wickets, in a tense low scoring thriller, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, in IPL 2023 Match 28.

Match Summary

Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Match 28, Indian Premier League

Delhi Capitals 128/6 (19.2 ov)

Kolkata Knight Riders 127/10 (20 ov)

Result - Delhi Capitals won by 4 wickets

SCORECARD

Off the mark in #TATAIPL 2023 ?@DelhiCapitals with a much-needed victory as they complete a 4-wicket win over #KKR at home ????

Scorecard ?? https://t.co/CYENNIiaQp #TATAIPL | #DCvKKR pic.twitter.com/Ol7Mu3s9IT

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 20, 2023

Match Analysis

Skipper David Warner hit a fluent 57 as Delhi Capitals edged Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets in a low-scoring Indian Premier League match on Thursday for their first victory this season.

Returning fast bowler Ishant Sharma, playing his first IPL match since 2021, returned figures of 2-19 to help bowl out Kolkata for 127 in New Delhi.

But Delhi made tough work of their modest chase and despite Warner's fourth half-century of the season achieved their target with four balls to spare in a rain-delayed match that went past midnight.

Delhi, who are still hunting for their maiden IPL title, remain bottom of the 10-team table with just one win in six matches.

"I was thinking it was like my first Test -- happy to get off the mark," said Delhi's director of cricket and former India skipper Sourav Ganguly.

"We have bowled well this season. These are good pitches and fast outfields, but the problem is the batting. We need to go back and look at ourselves as to how we can do better. "

The left-handed Warner started strongly with a few boundaries but Delhi stuttered after they lost Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh and Phil Salt in quick succession.

Leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy sent back Warner lbw for his second wicket and Manish Pandey became impact player Anukul Roy's second scalp to raise Kolkata's hopes.

Axar Patel (19) and Lalit Yadav (4) stayed calm to steer Delhi home.

"Credit to the bowlers that if we can fight with this total then the coming matches should be good," Kolkata skipper Nitish Rana said after his team's third straight loss.

"They batted well in the powerplay and we came back well, but we were 15-20 runs short."

The second match of the day started an hour late due to evening rains in the national capital and the home team elected to field before picking up an early wicket in Bangladesh's Liton Das.

Ishant stood out with key wickets of Rana and Sunil Narine before being substituted under the new impact player rule.

Others joined in as pace bowler Anrich Nortje, spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets each to bundle out the opposition on the final ball of the innings.

England opener Jason Roy hit a valiant 43 in his first outing this season and Andre Russell overcame a slow start to smack an unbeaten 38 with three successive sixes in the final over.

Match Stats

Kolkata Knight Riders Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Litton Das - 1.6 ov), 2-25 (Venkatesh Iyer - 3.3 ov), 3-32 (Nitish Rana - 5.2 ov), 4-50 (Mandeep Singh - 8.2 ov), 5-64 (Rinku Singh - 10.2 ov), 6-70 (Sunil Narine - 11.2 ov), 7-93 (Jason Roy - 14.4 ov), 8-93 (Anukul Roy - 14.5 ov), 9-96 (Umesh Yadav - 15.4 ov), 10-127 (Varun Chakravarthy - 19.6 ov)

Delhi Capitals Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Prithvi Shaw - 4.3 ov), 2-62 (Mitchell Marsh - 7.2 ov), 3-67 (Philip Salt - 8.1 ov), 4-93 (David Warner - 13.1 ov), 5-110 (Manish Pandey - 15.5 ov), 6-111 (Aman Hakim Khan - 16.2 ov)

Playing XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: Jason Roy, Litton Das (wicket-keeper), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (captain), Mandeep Singh, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy; Subs: Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, David Weise, Suyash Sharma, Narayan Jagadeesan

Impact player: Anukul Roy for Venkatesh Iyer (1st innings, 14.4 ov)

Delhi Capitals: David Warner (captain), Philip Salt (wicket-keeper), Mitchell Marsh, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar; Subs: Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, Yash Dhul, Chetan Sakariya, Ripal Patel

Impact player: Prithvi Shaw for Ishant Sharma (1st innings, 11.6 ov)

Match Details

Toss: Delhi Capitals, elected to field

Venue: Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi

Start time: 1400 hrs GMT

Match officials: Michael Gough, Rohan Pandit (On-field Umpires); KN Ananthapadmanabhan (TV Umpire); Abhijit Bhattachrya (Reserve Umpire); Amit Sharma (Match-referee)