DC beat KKR by 18 runs in another Sharjah thriller

Sharjah, October 3, 2020

Delhi Capitals (DC) on Saturday beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 18 runs in another high-scoring thriller and climbed to the top of the table with six points from four matches.

KKR scored 210/8 wickets in their 20 overs in reply to DC's 228/4 wickets in 20 overs at the Sharjah International Cricket Stadium. KKR would have had to complete the highest ever IPL run chase, a record that was broken just last Sunday at the same ground.

Kolkata were behind the pace for much of the chase, finding themselves yet to reach 100 in the first 10 overs of their innings and losing three wickets. Nitish Rana anchored the first half of the innings with a well crafted 58 off 34 balls scoring four fours and as many sixes.

KKR were brought back into the game by a 78-run stand for the seventh wicket between Eoin Morgan (44) and Rahul Trupathi (36). The pair smashed 24 runs in the 17th over and 23 runs off the 18th over. However, Anrich Nortje came in for the penultimate over and pulled things back for DC, accounting for the wicket of Morgan in the process.

Tripathi started the last over bowled by Marcus Stoinis, in which KKR needed 26 runs, with a four but was dismissed off the very next ball. Only three more runs were conceded in the rest of the over as DC took the match and the top spot on the league table.

Earlier, DC captain Shreyas Iyer's unbeaten 38-ball 88 helped his team score 228/4. DC made the most of the short boundaries on offer at the Sharjah ground, with their top three adding more than 50 runs for each wicket.

DC were on the charge from the first ball with openers Shikhar Dhawan (26) and Prithvi Shaw (66) ensuring that they crossed 50 in the first five overs. Dhawan fell in the sixth over to Varun Chakravarthy, but Shreyas came in and kept the momentum going.

Iyer brought up DC's 100 with an emphatic six over deep square-leg in the 11th over before Shaw fell in the 13th to Kamlesh Nagarkoti. It led to two relatively quiet overs before Iyer and Rishabh Pant (38) sent the ball to all parts of the ground in the death overs.

Their charge to 250 was stopped by Andre Russell. The big West Indies all-rounder dismissed Pant in the 18th and then got Marcus Stoinis (1) off the first ball of the 20th. He then gave away just seven runs in the over to keep DC down to 228.

Brief scores: DC 228/4 wkts in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 88 not out, Prithvi Shaw 66; Andre Russell 2/29) beat KKR 210/8 wkts in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 58, Eoin Morgan 44; Anrich Nortje 3/33) by 18 runs

IANS