Match Recap

The Delhi Capitals registered their second win of VIVO IPL 2019 after they first tied with the Kolkata Knight Riders’ score of 185 and then restricted KKR to four runs short of their target in the Super Over. The defeat would be the Knight Riders’ first defeat of the season.

Batting first in the Super Over, the Delhi Capitals could only score one boundary, posting a score of 10 at the end of their six deliveries. Shreyas Iyer was dismissed for 4, while Rishabh Pant scored 6 from the four balls he faced. KKR began their run-chase in the Super Over with a boundary, but two balls later Kagiso Rabada pegged back Andre Russell’s middle stump with a 148.3kph yorker. The South African gave very little away in the remaining three deliveries; Robbie Uthappa scored two singles from the two balls he faced in the Super Over, while Dinesh Karthik scored a single off the only ball he faced.

Earlier, in the main match, Prithvi Shaw’s scintillating 99could only take the Delhi Capitals as far as the Kolkata Knight Riders’ score of 185. Shaw’s innings, and his 89-run partnership with captain Shreyas Iyer were the highlights of the chase.

Shaw was 55 not out when Shreyas (43 from 32 balls) was dismissed; the teenager then took charge of the run-chase and carried his team to the brink. He missed out on a deserving century – which would have made him the youngest IPL centurion – when, on 99, he top-edged an attempted pull to be caught by the wicket-keeper.The match went down to the wire; the Delhi Capitals needed just six runs off the last over. After the dismissal of HanumaVihari, the equation came down to two runs off the last ball. Colin Ingram could collect only one run after sweeping Kuldeep Yadav to backward square-leg before he was run out at the striker’s end attempting the second run.

Earlier in the evening, after being asked to bat, the Knight Riders slipped to 61 for 5, before being revived by a spectacular 95-run partnership between captain Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell. Not surprisingly, Russell was the dominant partner in that partnership – scoring 62 runs from 28 balls, while Karthik made 27 from 25 balls. Both batsmen were dismissed in the span of five deliveries – much to the relief of the Delhi Capitals fans. Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav contributed 22 runs from the ten balls they faced to help KKR finish at 185-8.

Standout batting performance

As if inspired on by Sanju Samson’s century on Friday night, Prithvi Shaw turned in a spectacle on Saturday night. The teenager was in imperious form, punishing the slightest errors from the bowlers, and even taking good toll of the good deliveries. He scored runs all round the park, but the leg-side would be his preferred scoring side. The DC opener was particularly severe on Kuldeep Yadav, whom he hit for two sixes and a boundary, in all scoring 22 runs off 8 balls.

Shaw brought up his half-century off 30 balls, and then carried on to make 99; before he was dismissed – off his 55^th delivery – he had hit 12 fours and 3 sixes. While it was a high-quality knock, Shaw and the Delhi Capitals management will be disappointed that he couldn’t complete the job and the match had to be decided in the Super Over.

Earlier, Andre Russell tore into the Delhi Capitals bowlers after they repeatedly kept landing the ball in the slot. Russell was only too happy to get under those deliveries and hit the ball out of the park. Twelve balls into his innings – when on 21, Russell was hit on the left shoulder by a full-delivery from Harshal Patel; after receiving treatment and icing the injured shoulder for a little while, he unleashed himself thereafter, hitting four boundaries and three sixes, eventually finishing at 62 from 28 balls.

Notable Support Act – Batting

Dinesh Karthik, who walked out to bat in the seventh over, played an able knock. The KKR captain opened his account with a first-ball boundary, kept his foot on the accelerator and took the fight to the opposition. He raced to 17 from 8 balls before being joined by Russell, at which point he let the big Jamaican call the shots. If Russell used brute force to find the boundaries, Karthik used timing and placement to find the occasional boundaries. The KKR skipper brought up his half-century in style, depositing Amit Mishra into the stands at fine-leg. But the very next delivery, he was dismissed chasing a wide delivery from the leg-spinner. Karthik made 50 from 36 balls and his knock contained five boundaries and two sixes.

For the Delhi Capitals, Shreyas Iyer made a very useful contribution; he scored 43 from 32 balls and his knock contained four boundaries and two sixes. The Delhi Capitals captain came into bat in the third over and his partnership with young Shaw helped lay foundation for the chase. Shreyas was dismissed in the twelfth over when he flicked an Andre Russell delivery clean but was caught inches from the ropes at midwicket.

Stat of the Match:

Andre Russell became the fastest – in terms of balls faced – to score 1000 runs in the IPL; he faced only 545 balls to reach the milestone.

After his onslaught in this match, Andre Russell tops the list of run-getters, batting strike-rate and six-hitters in VIVO IPL 2019; he has scored 159 runs at a strike-rate of 248.43, and has hit 15 sixes so far this season.

Brief Scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders: 185-8 (Dinesh Karthik 50, Andre Russell 62) tied with

Delhi Capitals: 185-6 (Prithvi Shaw 99, Shreyas Iyer 43). Delhi Capitals won the Super Over.

Man of the Match:

Prithvi Shaw, for his 55-ball 99.