Delhi Daredevils thrash Kolkata Knight Rirders by 55 runs

Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s live updates of the 26th match of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League, between Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

Delhi Daredevils captain Shreyas Iyer and Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik.

After leaving the captaincy of Gautam Gambhir, will the fate of the new captain Shreyas Iyer take over the captaincy of Delhi Daredevils? Daredevils milked 76 runs from the last four overs, including 29 off the final over by rookie paceman Shivam Mavi, to pile up 219/4, the highest score of IPL 2018. The Daredevils are the bottom of the points table with just 1 win from 6 games and have already shown signs of desperation. The lucky escape did not slow Iyer down as he kept striking the ball superbly.

Pant’s dismissal brought in Australian power-hitter Glenn Maxwell (27 off 18; 4×1, 6×2), who forged a 73-run fourth wicket stand with Iyer as Delhi looked set for a huge total.

The Daredevils bowlers thrived with KKR forced to chase the game with Maxwell (2/22) surprisingly opening the bowling and getting the wicket of Chris Lynn (5).

Kolkata needed a fast start in response, but some pinpoint bowling from Trent Boult dislodged the risky Sunil Narine and experienced Robin Uthappa. During this time he scored 10 sixes and three fours.

Munro took a leaping, spinning catch over his head on the boundary to dismiss the Kolkata Knight Riders’ Piyush Chawla late in his side’s 55-run win in Delhi on Saturday morning (NZ time). This has added more responsibility to the young Iyer.

“Shreyas Iyer as captain can change nothing if batting continues to be a problem and their bowling just cannot be dependent on Trent Boult”, he said. “It’s disappointing”, Punjab captain Ravichandran Ashwin said.

Delhi were lightning out of the blocks, with Shaw and Munro immediately going after the bowlers. The new skipper, in fact, sounded positive after taking over the charge, “We have eight games in hand”.

And despite Andre Russell and young Shubman Gill stitching together a 64-run partnership to raise minor hopes of a miraculous victory for the Knights, two wickets in the 16th over by Amit Mishra evaporated all those hopes. Maxwell grabbed his second wicket of the night – that of Piyush Chawla (2) – but Mitchell Johnson (12*) and Kuldeep Yadav (7*) ensured KKR didn’t get bowled out. Sunil Narine has been phenomenal as usual, picking up wickets and nearly drying out the runs in the middle overs.

The home side needed talented Rishabh Pant to support Iyer but he was dismissed for a duck as he tried to drop his gloves when Andre Russell banged it short, expecting that the ball will pass him but it hit him on the gloves and flew to wicketkeeper.