Shreyas Iyer scored a scintillating 88, as Delhi Capitals beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 18 runs at the Sharjah Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Asked to bat first, Delhi Capitals got off to a flyer with the openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw putting on 56 runs for the opening wicket, before Dhawan top edged a Varun Chakravarthy delivery to Eoin Morgan for a 16 ball 26.
Skipper Iyer along with Shaw added 73 runs for the second wicket, before the latter was caught at long on by Gill off Kamlesh Nagarkoti for a well made 66.
Rishabh Pant then joined skipper Shreyas in the middle and the duo bludgeoned the KKR bowlers by smashing them to all parts of ground.
The 25 year old Iyer reached his fastest fifty in IPL. Pant smashed 38 off 17 balls before falling to Russell, as DC reached a massive total of 228/4 at the end of their allotted 20 overs. Skipper Shreyas Iyer remained unbeaten on 88 off just 38 balls.
For KKR, Russell picked two while Chakravarthy and Nagarkoti scalped one wicket each.
Chasing 229, KKR got off to a poor start by losing the out of form Sunil Narine in the second over to Nortje.
Shubman Gill along with Nitish Rana stitched together a 64 run partnership ,before the former was sent back by Amit Mishra in the 8th over for 28.
Andre Russell promoted to No 4, smashed Kagiso Rabada for a four and a six, but the South African pacer had the last laugh, as he got the West Indian caught by compatriot Nortje at third man.
KKR were dealt a further blow when Harshal Patel, brought back into the attack, accounted for for both the well set Nitish Rana and skipper Dinesh Karthik in quick succession.
Rahul Tripathi and Eion Morgan nearly pulled off miraculous come back for KKR, as they added 78 runs in just 30 balls. They collected 24 runs off Marcus Stoinis’ third over. And even Kagiso Rabada, the spearhead of the attack wasn’t spared as they hit him for three sixes and a four in the 18th over.
With 31 required off 12 balls, Nortje bowled a superb penultimate over, giving away just 5 runs, and also getting the crucial wicket of Morgan.
With 26 needed off the final over, Tripathi managed a boundary off the first ball, but was castled by a fantastic Stoinis yorker on the very next delivery, and KKR eventually felt short by 18 runs.
Kolkata ended up with 210/8 at the end of 20 overs.
Delhi Capitals will next face Rajasthan Royals on October 9, while KKR will take on Chennai Super Kings on October 7.