IPL 2023 Live Report - Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Delhi Capitals have finally earned their first win of IPL 2023, breaking a five-game losing streak, but it did not come easy. Despite chasing only 128 after their best bowling performance of the season, their batters struggled with Kolkata Knight Riders overloading on spin bowling. If it wasn't for David Warner's fourth fifty of the season and Axar Patel staying on till the end, it could very well have been 0-6 for the hosts.

Even though their batting innings brought excitement into the contest, it was their bowlers in the first innings who set up the win. Ishant Sharma - playing his first IPL game since May 2021 - walked into the side and took 2 for 19 in four overs, while Anrich Nortje (2 for 20) made batting difficult with his extra pace. Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel ran through the middle order by sharing four wickets, while Mukesh Kumar impressed with his new-ball and yorker skills.

They ensured Knight Riders struggled to put in a cohesive batting performance yet again. Knight Riders made four changes to their playing XI but except for Jason Roy's 43 their batting lacked direction. While their spinners dug deep, the target was too low even on a spin-friendly track. They have now lost their fourth match in six, Including three on the trot.

Axar's hard-run two. A no-ball. And then a smack through wide long on. Axar Patel has taken the hosts home and Delhi Capitals have their first points of the season!

Knight Riders now have a hat-trick of losses and their fourth in six. Great result for the home crowd who have stayed on despite a late start and late finish (due to rain).

It has come down to this. KKR have thrown everything they have at the Capitals with Chakravarthy desperately reviewing two lbw calls and Lalit surviving a stumping chance. Rana also delivers a tidy 19th, which means Kulwant Khejroliya has the difficult task of defending six.

Pandey and Aman Khan are out in quick succession, leaving Capitals with only four wickets in hand. Anukul, Rana and Chakravarthy have been excellent tonight, and Chakravarthy starts off the 18th with a terrific delivery that hits Axar on the back foot. Axar's heart is in his mouth, but survives on DRS.

Chakravarthy is delighted picking up Warner on 57 trying to play the reverse sweep. Warner is angry at himself for not finishing the game off. He falls with Capitals needing 35 in 41 balls and Chakravarthy bowls five more dots to see the over out. The wicket maiden makes the equation 35 in 36.

Onus now on the experienced pair of Pandey and Axar to bring it home. A few nerves in the Capitals camp. Happens when you've briefly forgotten how to win.

A fourth fifty in six games this season by pulling Anukul behind square for four. In all, 59 fifties in the IPL for the legend. He's looked fluent tonight and got to his fifty in 34 balls. He hasn't been smiling a lot after getting his fifties, but tonight he beams wide. Manish Pandey then hits Anukul straight back to bring the required rate down to five. Capitals need 45 in 54 balls

It was a great opportunity for Marsh to get some batting time with a low total, but Nitish Rana's part-time offbreak has got him hitting to long off. Rana's used himself and Anukul Roy after the powerplay, and the plan has worked out well because Anukul then has Salt out caught-and-bowled. Is that a batting wobble? It's been Delhi's Achilles heel all tournament!

Capitals 67/3 in 8.1 overs but Warner has struck 10 fours to race away to a 27-ball 45. His innings turns even more crucial for the next few overs with Manish Pandey joining in.

The captain provides the early burst, leading the way in hitting 13 off Kulwant Khejroliya's over followed by 10 against Russell.

Shaw has been starved of strike initially, but starts off the fifth over by cutting Chakravarthy for four. However, he chops on two balls later attempting the shot again - and is gone for 13!

Russell hits three sixes in the 20th over to finish on 38 and Knight Riders have somehow managed to reach 127. They get all out with Chakravarthy trying an extra run off the last ball. Even though Delhi Capitals' batting order has struggled, they're big favourites to coast home.

The fast bowlers up top earned rewards for being tight, but some batters took poor shot options and were out cheaply. Nortje and Ishant the pick of the bowlers, Mukesh had good returns but the final over ruined his night. Kuldeep came back strong at the back end while Axar Patel produced a 10/10 performance.

Knight Riders were 64 for 5 in 10.2 overs. They also faced 67 dot balls, struggling to rotate the strike after the first three wickets fell. All in all, another disappointing batting show on a macro level from the side.

They also used an Impact Sub to lenghten their batting so that means no Suyash Sharma in the second innings too. All in all, they'll need a magical bowling performance to defend this.

ESPNcricinfo's Forecaster with a suggestion that Capitals are 85% favourites to get their first win of IPL 2023. Prithvi Shaw is expected to open with Warner.

After No. 10 Umesh's dismissal, Russell has no choice but to tee off because he only has the No. 11 Chakravarthy with him.

But Mukesh Kumar delivers yorker after yorker after yorker and Russell is annoyed at himself as he takes a single off the fifth ball.

Chakravarthy survives and KKR creep up to 100.

Jason Roy worked so hard to hang around and reach 43. But off his 39th ball, he tries to clobber Kuldeep Yadav over square leg, but has mistimed it. He's furious at the dismissal and equally ecstatic is Kuldeep who gives out a big roar.

Roy was playing against his former team and Kuldeep against his.

Next man in: Anukul Roy, the Impact Sub for KKR, and he's been struck on the pad first ball! KKR's Impact Player gets wasted, unless Anukul bowls later. They definitely can't use local boy Suyash Sharma. Umesh Yadav survives the hat-trick ball. There's a lot happening!

oh yeah, the Apple CEO is around. He gives the crowd a wave and the fans at the ground respond too with a roar.

But maybe he won't see a lot of this game because KKR are collapsing with another wicket. Narine swipes across the line and he's gone at deep midwicket. Ishant's final over starts and ends well. His returns tonight: 4-0-19-2. Welcome back Ishant. Oh wait, he's leaving. Impact Player Prithvi Shaw comes in.

Mandeep from around the wicket. Rinku from over the stumps. Axar with the golden arm in the middle overs, helped by a bit of extra turn here. Delhi has averaged 2.7 degree turn in IPL 2023, the most among all venues. Chennai, in comparison, only 2.1 degrees.

With Rinku also gone, not much is left now. Narine comes in before Russell. Will he swing the bat or knock it around? Roy, meanwhile, has drilled Kuldeep for a six straight down but apart from that Delhi Capitals continue to have the stranglehold.

Ishant Sharma deserved a wicket in the powerplay for his bowling. Metronomic, some extra pace, on point. He gets fellow Delhi cricketer Nitish Rana, who fails to clear mid-on. He's 3-0-14-1.

That brings in Mandeep Singh alongside Roy. Roy's timing has fallen off and the wickets mean the boundaries have dried up too. They aren't afraid to try the reverse sweep off Axar Patel after the powerplay though. Just that the timing on a usually difficult Delhi surface hasn't been on target. That was on show when Roy tried to play across the line to Marsh, only to edge it high up. Lucky for him, Marsh dropped him on 25. Now for him to make it count.

James Foster, KKR assistant coach, says they will assess their target after 10 overs. Not right now. Also said spin may help them in the second innings here. They may even add an extra batter if needed.

Maybe they'll have to take the extra batter option after all because Axar Patel has cleaned up Mandeep Singh to start off the ninth over. Full marks to Mandeep for the intent, attempting the ramp valiantly. KKR 50/4 in 8.2.

It's all Delhi for now. But here's Rinku...

Salute to the wise person who said that. Venkatesh Iyer made 104 the other day, today he's gone for a two-ball duck. Anrich Nortje went short on a fourth line, his pace also getting that extra bounce, Iyer is late to attempt the back-foot punch, and the angle of the delivery instead takes the edge. First slip pockets that and Nortje strikes three balls in.

Nitish Rana was also nearly gone, with an edge dropping short of second slip. Capitals have their tail up, KKR's top order in trouble yet again.

KKR changed both openers to try and bring some change to their opening woes. KKR's opening partnership had the lowest average (15.3) among all teams and the Litton-Roy pair has added exactly 15 before the Bangladesh batter tries to pull a ball from outside off.

He's gone for 4 and Venkatesh Iyer is in at No. 3. Iyer has among the best ball-per-six and ball-per-four ratios in IPL 2023. He's also been dominant through overs 7-15. KKR would love for him to keep doing that alongside Roy.

Roy, for his part, has found his timing early racing to 14 in 11 balls with a third boundary as I type. Also curious if Anrich Nortje bowls soon. Roy has been out 4 times in 7 innings against Nortje, while making only 22 runs in 26 balls.*

*And yes, Nortje comes to bowl the fourth, replacing wicket-taker Mukesh Kumar.

It is time for those in Dinajpur and Bangladesh because KKR have named Litton Das as the wicketkeeper. Jason Roy also gets a game. So Jagadeesan and Rahmanullah Gurbaz are out.

Also dropped is Shardul Thakur (not even on the bench) with Kulwant Khejroliya (who also has a lot of Delhi experience) coming in. Lockie Ferguson also left out to make space for that second overseas pick. So Mandeep Singh is in.

Capitals will bowl first.

The Delhi veteran Ishant Sharma will play today, replacing Abishek Porel among Indians. Capitals have brought in Phil Salt as the wicketkeeper-batter and let go of Mustafizur Rahman. Yash Dhull also out.

Shaw is not named in the Delhi bowling-first XI. We'll see if he is an Impact Sub later or not. Salt usually opens but has been used as a finisher occasionally (without much success)

Nitish Rana gets overwhelmed at the thought of having to spell out KKR's FOUR changes. We'll have to wait for the team sheet.

The groundstaff must've done a marvelous job out there to get things ready this quickly. Toss at 8.15, start at 8.30. Importantly, no overs lost. Things are going to move quickly now.

:-)

Earlier today, Mohammed Siraj grabbed the purple cap while leading RCB to a win in Mohali. Interestingly, Faf du Plessis did not captain, instead playing as an Impact Sub option with the bat. So how much Impact has the Impact Player had in the IPL so far? Matt Roller took the trouble of finding that out.

And you Nostalgia Merchants must be loving what Piyush Chawla and Amit Mishra are doing, no? Deivarayan Muthu gives us a recap of the comeback kings this season.

Also, a look at who the most Impactful batters have been so far (with the help of ESPNcricinfo's Smart Stats)...

... with Indian seamers leading the way among bowlers ⏬

The covers were coming off around 7.35pm IST and preparing for a 7.45pm inspection but it has started to drizzle again around inspection time. So covers back on. Fingers crossed.

If rained off, Capitals would finally get on the points table. But they'd want to get the whole two points. Knight Riders could jump to 3rd with a win - that's where some decent NRR helps.

Luggage-gate has already brought gloom over the Delhi camp but now rain has also dampened the spirit for all KKR and DC fans: covers are on because it was drizzling shortly ago.

Toss is delayed. There will be an inspection again at 7pm local.

7.30pm update: covers are being removed. Inspection at 7.45pm next.

The last time Capitals had a 0-5 start to the season was a decade back. That season they finished last. To avoid that, here's a suggestion: Drop Shaw, promote Marsh, recall Rossouw. Their red flag is their batting, says Tom Moody.