In Visakhapatnam, Kolkata Knight Riders, led by captain Shreyas Iyer, won the toss and elected to bat first. Their opening duo, Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, launched an explosive start, gathering 58 runs in just three overs. However, Delhi’s Anrich Nortje ended Salt’s innings in the fifth over, providing Delhi with the much-needed breakthrough.
Despite this, KKR maintained momentum with Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, reaching a formidable 88/1 at the end of the powerplay, with Narine completing a swift fifty off just 21 balls. The partnership continued to flourish, propelling KKR to 135/1 after ten overs, with Raghuvanshi also reaching his fifty in 25 deliveries.
In the 13th over, Mitchell Marsh dismissed Narine, who had scored his highest IPL score of 85 runs off 39 balls. Subsequently, Raghuvanshi departed in the 14th over, leaving the score at 181/3. With skipper Shreyas Iyer and Andre Russell at the crease, KKR aimed for a massive total, reaching 205/3 after 16 overs.
However, Iyer’s dismissal in the 18th over interrupted their flow. Nevertheless, Rinku Singh and Russell forged a significant partnership, adding 32 runs and propelling their team to a colossal 264/5 by the end of the 19th over, making KKR the second team to score the maximum runs in a single innings.
Despite their efforts to surpass Sunrisers Hyderabad’s record of 277 runs, Delhi’s Ishant Sharma delivered an exceptional final over, conceding just eight runs and claiming two wickets. Nonetheless, KKR concluded their innings with an imposing total of 272/7 in 20 overs.
The hosts, Delhi, faced a shaky start as openers Prithvi Shaw and David Warner took to the crease. Shaw failed to fire this time, departing in the second over. The woes continued as Mitchell Marsh and Warner fell victims to their compatriot, Mitchell Starc.
Delhi’s impact substitute, Abhishek Porel, departed without scoring, leaving the hosts struggling at 51/4 by the end of the powerplay. However, Delhi found some stability as Tristan Stubbs and skipper Rishabh Pant constructed a steady 54-run partnership, taking the score to 87/4 in 10 overs.
Pant continued his excellent form, scoring 28 runs off the 12th over bowled by Venkatesh Iyer and completing his fifty off 23 deliveries. However, he couldn’t convert his fifty into a substantial score, departing in the 13th over to Varun Chakaravarthy. The KKR spinner dominated the Delhi batting lineup, dismissing Axar Patel in the very next delivery.
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Meanwhile, Stubbs, who looked dangerous, scoring a fifty off 28 balls, departed in the 15th over with Chakaravarthy claiming his wicket again. With not much batting firepower left and Sumit Kumar and Rasikh Salam back in the pavilion, the game was effectively over for Delhi. Ultimately, they were bundled out for 166 runs, losing the match by 106 runs.