IPL 2017 | Pandey and Pathan star in KKR win over Delhi

04/17/2017

Manish Pandey (69*) and Yusuf Pathan (59) guided KKR to their third win on the trot, chasing down DD’s target in the last over. Earlier, Delhi had found themselves in a great position after dismissing the KKR’s top order for just 21 runs but an 110-run partnership secured the win for the visitors.

Brief scores: Delhi Daredevils 168/7 (Sanju Samson 39, Rishabh Pant 38; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3/22, Sunil Narine 1/20) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 169/6 (Manish Pandey 69*, Yusuf Pathan 59; Zaheer Khan 2/28, Pat Cummins 2/39) by 4 wickets.

Delhi Daredevils made two changes to the side that beat Kings XI Punjab, with Mohammed Shami and Angelo Mathews replacing Shahbaz Nadeem and Corey Anderson. Kolkata, too, brought in Nathan Coulter-Nile in place of Kiwi Trent Boult. Winning the toss, Delhi, having won both their matches while defending a target, decided to set one this time.

Delhi start well but Kolkata reel them back in

Delhi started off with a flourish, with Samson smashing 6 boundaries from the 1st 12 deliveries he faced. Sam Billings got in on the act in the third over and Delhi Daredevils were soon cruising at 36/0 after 3 overs. With Delhi well placed at 53/0 at the end of the powerplay, Nathan Coulter-Nile sent Billings on his way on the first ball after the powerplay and Umesh Yadav removed the dangerous looking Sanju Samson two overs later which meant that Kolkata were well and truly back in the game.

Kolkata restrict Delhi after a spell of dominance

Karun Nair & Shreyas Iyer put on 42 runs for the 5th wicket, but both fell in consecutive overs to bring control back to the Kolkata side, somewhat against the run of play. The 17th over saw young teenage sensation, Rishabh Pant hit senior Indian bowler, Umesh Yadav for 26 runs, before Aussie Coulter-Nile holed him out to Gambhir to leave the Delhi side at 154/6 with an over and a half to go. What followed was a comedy of errors, in which, Coulter-Nile failed to get the opposition batsmen out in not 1, 2, but 3 attempts in the same over. First, Umesh Yadav and Captain Gambhir were guilty of dropping simple catches, and then the gods were at fault, as the ball clipped the stump but failed to dislodge the bails. After some more fireworks in the last over, the innings finally closed at 168/7 for the Delhi side, with only 22 runs scored in the last 3 overs.

Kolkata top order collapse under Cummins & Khan pressure

Kolkata’s experimentation continued as Gambhir opted to open the innings with Colin de Grandhomme instead of Sunil Narine but this time the risk did not pay off as the Kiwi was dismissed for a solitary run off Zaheer Khan in the very first over. Needing over eight runs an over, Gambhir decided to take the attack to the home side smashing Pat Cummins for back to back boundaries. However, it was the Aussie who had the last laugh as Rishabh Pant pulled off the catch of the match to dismiss the dangerous Uthappa. In the next over, it got worse for the visitors as Gambhir too made the long walk back to the dressing room after top edging a Zaheer Khan delivery to Matthews, leaving the Kolkata side reeling at 21/3. But Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan recovered quickly and put KKR in the driving seat by taking the score to 88/3 at the midway point of the innings.

Kolkata leave it late to win at Feroz Shah Kolta

After the interval, however, Delhi fought back conceding just 11 runs in two overs. But the KKR duo had gotten accustomed to the pace of the pitch and both upped the ante as soon as the required run rate went above 9 runs an over. After scoring 11 runs off the 13th over, the KKR batsmen took 15 runs off Zaheer Khan, who had conceded just 13 runs in his three previous overs, to bring KKR within touching distance of a victory. Even though Pathan was caught by Morris off his own bowling, the hard work had been done with Kolkata needing just 34 off 30 balls. Pandey and Suryakumar Yadav dealt in singles taking the score to 152 before the latter had a rush of blood to the head and was caught at mid off while attempting a big shot. Sanju Samson acrobatically saved a six to keep Delhi alive in the game and when Amit Mishra dismissed Chris Woakes, it was anybody’s game with KKR needing 9 runs off 4 balls. But Pandey hit eight runs off two balls to secure the win for the away side.