Match Details
Kuldeep Yadav is the Player of the Match- Actually I didn't think much while running for that catch. I felt I can reach it and it is my wicket at the end of the day. It is important to take a pause and think about your bowling. The wicket here is good and the batters have the advantage. Since some of the side boundaries are longer and the ball was gripping, it was important to bowl in the right places. Shreyas was batting well and hitting it nicely and so getting him out was big. Enjoyed Shreyas' wicket more because it was my first and was the main wicket from the team's point of view since he was batting so well. I haven't tried too much and am just focusing on getting my rhythm right. That's what I did when I returned to the Indian team. I am enjoying my bowling and bowling right lengths. I pulled back the lengths against Shreyas as well as Cummins. I am enjoying the environment here and have a good backing of the side. Rishabh guides me well from behind the stumps as well
Rishabh Pant- We would have fielded first as well but didn't think about it much. We wanted to put pressure on the opposition while batting. In these conditions, with no dew, if teams score 170-180 it is decent and the pressure is not as much as it is when the the team batting first gets over 200. Kuldeep has been working hard for a year but hasn't been getting enough chances. We are trying to back him and he is doing well as well. We wanted to keep momentum going and hence sent Axar in. We wanted Sarfaraz to arrest the slide if we lose too many wickets and hence kept him back in the batting order.
Arya: It was Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer who won the toss and put Delhi Capitals in. The start was sublime from the DC openers Prithvi Shaw and David Warner who made full use of the powerplay and raced off to 68 in the first six overs. Prithvi Shaw started off with a boundary in the very first ball and didn’t stop the onslaught during his terrific half-century.
Warner also looked in good touch and played some delightful shots to get going. Prithvi Shaw continued from where he left the other day and the stroke making was of the highest order. He not only punished loose deliveries but took a heavy toll even on deliveries that weren’t bad. An opening partnership of 93 runs set the platform for a big finish.
Shaw was eventually castled by a wrong un from Varun Chakravarthy and all of a sudden, DC lost the plot a bit losing wickets at consistent junctures which halted their momentum and allowed KKR to claw their way back into the game. Rishabh Pant promoted himself up in the order and looked in scintillating touch. He played some audacious shots during his brief stay before perishing at the hands of Andre Russell.
Warner reached a well-deserved half-century and was eventually dismissed by Umesh Yadav on 61. Sunil Narine got rid off Lalit Yadav and Rovman Powell and stalled the run-flow in the middle overs. He finished with sensational figures of 2/22 on a surface that was a belter. It was a blitz from Shardul Thakur which took DC to 215 after a dodgy phase. He smoked three sixes and a four during his unbeaten knock of 29 of just 11 deliveries.
Ajinkya Rahane had a torrid time in the middle before holding out in the deep. It was the partnership between skipper Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana which got KKR back into the game. They played some delightful shots and kept KKR in the game. Iyer in particular was at his sublime best and understood the situation and played accordingly. Rana also started taking on the bowlers. The 69 runs partnership came to an end when Nitish Rana couldn’t quite time a low full toss from Lalit Yadav and ended up holding out at long-on.
Shreyas Iyer kept going and smashed a brilliant six to get to his half-century. However left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav had other ideas. He went for the googly the very next delivery, Iyer again came dancing down the track but missed it completely and Rishabh Pant behind the stumps whipped off the bails in a flash. Kuldeep Yadav’s final over turned out to be the game-changing one as he bagged three more to finish with exceptional figures of 4/35 in 4 overs.
He bowled brilliantly and broke the backbone of Kolkata Knight Riders. He bagged the wicket of Pat Cummins and added two more in the form of Sunil Narine and Umesh Yadav. The catch that he took to dismiss Umesh Yadav was one of the very best catches by a bowler of his own bowling. He made a lot of distance and dived full stretch to cling onto a stunner. It was a bit too much for Andre Rusell towards the end. He was dismissed in the final over as KKR surrendered meekly in the end.