Nitish Rana guided Kolkata Knight Riders to a three-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in the 41st match of IPL 2021 in Sharjah on Tuesday.
Chasing a target of 128, KKR lost two wickets inside the powerplay and scored 44 runs. Venkateshwar Iyer provided a good start but got out on 14 while Rahul Tripathi, too, got out after scoring nine.
Shubman Gill shifted to anchor mode as the runs didn't come easy on a tricky Sharjah pitch. Gill added 24 runs from 31 balls with Rana before getting out to Kagiso Rabada, who troubled the opening batter throughout the over.
Knight Riders was in a spot of bother as it lost captain Eoin Morgan for a duck in the next over off R Ashwin. Rana and Dinesh Karthik added crucial 29 runs from the next 20 balls to revive the innings before the wicketkeeper-batter chopped one onto the stumps off Avesh Khan.
It looked like Delhi might pull it off, however, Sunil Narine assaulted Rabada's 16th over, smashing 21 runs to once again change the direction of the match in favor of KKR. Although, Narine got out soon, but Nitish Rana ran his way to complete KKR's fifth win of the season.
Earlier, DC was asked to bat first. Shikhar Dhawan began the proceedings well, hitting five fours but got out in the 5th over. Shreyas Iyer, too, followed him in the next over.
The new opener for this match, Steve Smith, played the second fiddle and scored 39 from 34 balls with the help of four fours but got out in the 13th over. After that, Delhi's line-up crumbled.
None of the batters could support their captain Rishabh Pant, who made 39 off 36 as DC struggled its way to score 127/9.
Brief Scorecard:
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Delhi Capitals - 127/9 (Steve Smith - 39; Lockie Ferguson - 2/10)
Kolkata Knight Riders - 130/7 in 18.2 overs (Nitish Rana - 36*; Avesh Khan - 3/13)