Kolkata, Apr 30: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) openers continued to dominate as Philt Salt hammered a 33-ball 68 in the opening partnership of 79 runs which propelled them to a seven-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in Match 47 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Eden Gardens here on Monday.

Phil Salt had gone unsold in the auction for IPL 2024 held in December 2023, but Kolkata Knight Riders got his services for a base price of Rs. 1.5 crore after his countryman Jason Roy opted out of the tournament citing “personal reasons”. Since then, the star wicket-keeper batter didn't disappoint and hammered his fourth half-century of the season on Monday.

Salt and Sunil Narine ended the Power-play at 79 for no loss. Lizaad Williams' first over went for 23, with Phil Salt doing the bulk of the damage before Narine whipped away a last-ball four.

More Salt was rubbed into Lizaad's wounds when he dropped the English batter off the first ball of the second over. A miscue off Khaleel Ahmed went high in the air and Lizaard went under it at mid-on only to mess up the reverse-cup finish as the ball burst through his hands and smacked his chest.

The slower balls gripped the surface for Capitals' fast bowlers, but they didn’t use it very well, offering both batters room to chance their arms on multiple occasions. Salt went past the half-century mark in 26 deliveries during an 18-run sixth over delivered by Khaleel Ahmed.

Of the first ball bowled by Axar Patel after the Power-play, Narine looked for the big hit with the turn and picked out deep midwicket on 15 runs. Axar, in the very next over, knocked out Salt’s off-stump on 68 as a new pair of batters, Shreyas Iyer and Rinku Singh came in the middle. Rinku Singh, who got the chance to show his mettle in the chase, got out on run-up ball 11. Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer continued ticking the board as they both added 57 runs for the fourth wicket, which was enough to beat the visitors by seven wickets.

Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav's brilliant knock of 35 runs propelled Delhi Capitals to 153/9 after Varun Chakravarthy bowled a brilliant spell of 3-16 for KKR.

This Eden pitch hasn't been like the pitches of earlier in the season. It felt like KKR asked for something with a bit more help in it for the spinners after losing that sixer-fest against the Punjab Kings. And the pitch has really suited their two mystery spinners.

DC skipper Rishabh Pant and Abhishek Porel added 31 runs for the fourth wicket after an early setback but after their partnership ended, wickets kept falling from the other side. Porel (18), Axar Patel (15), Tristan Stubbs (4) and Kumar Kushagra (1) got out cheaply as DC from 67/3 in nine overs, were reduced to 101/6 in 13 overs. Pant, after an entertaining knock of 27 off 20 deliveries, fell prey to Chakravarthy, trying to slog-sweep towards deep midwicket and edged it straight up in the air.

Kuldeep Yadav’s brilliant 35 off 29 deliveries, studded with five boundaries and a six, propelled Delhi Capitals to 153/9 in 20 overs. Yadav was brought late into the attack in the bowling and ended his spell with 34 for none. Surely, not a day with the ball for Yadav, as Venkatesh Iyer finished off things with a six as KKR, solidified their position in the second position with a sixth win.

Brief score:

Delhi Capitals 153/9 in 20 overs (Kuldeep Yadav 35 not out, Rishabh Pant 27; Varun Chakravarthy 3-16, Harshit Rana 2-28) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 157/3 in 16.3 overs (Phil Salt 68, Shreyas Iyer 33; Axar Patel 2-25; Lizaad Williams 1-38) by seven wickets.

(IANS)

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