Delhi Capitals put on fiery all-round show to brush aside Kolkata Knight Riders

A blazing opening stand from Prithvi Shaw and David Warner set Delhi Capitals up for a 44-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium. The two added 93 in just 8.4 overs to lay the foundation, before cameos from Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel propelled them to a daunting total of 215.

Shreyas Iyer had opted to bowl hoping for the pitch to get better in the second half. The pitch didn't change much, though, and Knight Riders' sedate start meant the asking rate was always on the rise. Shreyas and Nitish Rana kept them in the hunt for a while, but once they were dismissed the chase fizzled out.

Khaleel Ahmed, coming in for Anrich Nortje, picked up 3 for 25, including two at the top of the order, while Kuldeep Yadav mopped up the lower-middle order to finish with 4 for 35, including a three-wicket over.

Shaw, Warner blaze away
Shaw was imperious in Capitals' previous game, against Lucknow Super Giants. He carried that form into this game, punching the first ball of the innings, bowled Umesh Yadav, for four. Later in the over, he clipped one behind square leg to pick up another boundary. Warner joined him by pulling Rasikh Salam to the deep-midwicket boundary.

With not much help from the surface, Umesh went short in the third over. He rushed Shaw with a bouncer but the batter managed to pull it behind square leg for four. Umesh went short once again on the next ball. Shaw attempted another pull but this time got pinged on the helmet. The ball flew to the third-man boundary for four leg-byes. After passing a concussion test, Shaw flicked the next ball for another four. Warner welcomed Pat Cummins with successive fours and Shaw finished the over with a pulled six to bring up the team's fifty in just four overs.

Pant joins the party
Seeing his seamers going for plenty, Shreyas turned to Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine inside the powerplay. Warner didn't let them settle and Shaw brought up his half-century off just 27 balls, before Varun castled him with a googly. But Pant continued in the same fashion - he and Warner took 24 off Varun's next over, taking Capitals to 125 for 1 after 11 overs. Two overs later, Warner hit Andre Russell for a straight six to reach his half-century, off 35 balls. Warner and Pant added 55 in 24 balls before Pant miscued a slash off Russell and was caught at third man.

Narine shows his class
In an innings where five Knight Riders bowlers registered an economy rate of ten or more and another went for eight an over, Narine finished with 4-0-21-2. Lalit Yadav tried to sweep him only to be trapped lbw. Rovman Powell attempted a slog sweep and a swirling top edge was taken by substitute Rinku Singh at fine leg. Soon after, Umesh sent back Warner when the batter pulled one to Ajinkya Rahane at deep midwicket.

Shardul, Axar provide final flourish
After 18 overs, Capitals were 176 for 5, with Axar batting on 9 off ten and Shardul on 3 off three. For a moment, it looked like Capitals had blundered by not sending in Sarfaraz Khan until then and Knight Riders might restrict them to under 200.

But then Shardul and Axar combined to hit three sixes and a four in a 23-run 19th over bowled by Umesh. Shardul started the 20th over by smashing Cummins over mid-off for four and ended it by launching him over deep midwicket for a six. In all, 39 runs came off the final two overs; Shardul finished with 29* off 11, Axar with 22* off 14, and Capitals with 215 for 5.

Rahane's three lives, Khaleel's double-strike
Knight Riders' chase started in an eventful manner. On the first ball of the innings, Mustafizur Rahman went up in appeal for caught-behind against Ajinkya Rahane. Umpire Jayaraman Madanagopal raised his finger only for Rahane to get the decision overturned on review. The ball had brushed the pad, not the bat. On the next ball, Madanagopal once again gave Rahane out, this time lbw. But once again he had to change his decision as there was a big inside edge involved. Rahane chased the third ball and got a faint edge to Pant. However, none of the Capitals players appealed and Rahane survived again.

From the other end, Venkatesh Iyer pulled Shardul for successive sixes but Khaleel got him holing out to deep square leg on the same shot. In his next over, Khaleel finally ended Rahane's stay, with Shardul taking an excellent catch, running back from mid-on and holding onto the ball after juggling it three times.

Fifty and out for Shreyas
Shreyas and Rana kept the chase alive for a while. They took the side to 107 for 2 in the 12th over before Rana slapped a full toss from Lalit straight into the hands of long-on. In the next over, Shreyas skipped down the ground to Kuldeep and launched him over long-on to reach his fifty in 32 balls. He attempted a repeat on the next ball but failed to read the googly and was stumped.

Kuldeep's three-wicket over
Sam Billings, in the company of Russell, kept Knight Riders' hopes alive for a tad longer. He hit Axar for a four and six in the 14th over but Khaleel came back to dismiss him. In the next over, Kuldeep picked up Cummins, Narine and Umesh in the space of four balls. For Umesh's wicket, he ran towards midwicket and dived full length to complete the return catch near the 30-yard circle. With 73 required from four overs, it was too steep a mountain to climb even for Russell.