Kolkata Knight Riders registered their fourth win on the bounce to leapfrog over Delhi Capitals with their 8-wicket win at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Friday as KKR limited DC to 145 runs before racing to the target with 34 balls to spare riding on Finn Allen’s ton.
KKR opener Allen’s unbeaten 100 run knock off just 47 balls carried his side past the target as the three-time champions climbed above the Capital City side in the table.
KKR won the toss and opted to field first as KL Rahul and Pathum Nissanka put up a 49-run opening stand before the Indian was removed by Kartik Tyagi for 23 runs off 14 balls, before Cameron Green removed Harshit Rana for 8 off 10. Sameer Rizvi fell for just 3 runs to Sunil Narine, before Nissanka, who
brought up his half-century, fell to Anukul Roy.
Roy doubled his wicket tally with the removal of Tristan Stubbs for 2 runs, before he came up with the stunner on the field to get rid off Axar.
Ashutosh Sharma contributed a crucial 39 runs off 28 deliveries before Tyagi came back to remove the dangerous batter. Mitchell Starc was run out by Angkrish Raghuvanshi. Vipraj Nigam and Lungisani Ngidi remained unbeaten on 3 and 1 as DC huffed-and-puffed to 142/8 in 20 overs.
KKR opened the chase with Allen and Ajinkya Rahane as the duo got off to a steady start before the latter fell to a cruel twist of fate as Micthell Starc got a touch on the ball with his leg enroute to the non-strikers stumps.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi also had to endure tough luck as the ball found its way to the stump after it looped over his head off an intended sweep shot as DC sought to get back into the game.
However, Cameron Green came out to support Allen, who went on to bring up his first fifty of the season alongside the Australian all-rounder. The duo navigated the chase with aplomb as they never seemed in trouble with Allen going through the gears to close the game out with a six that took him into triple-figures, as Green remained unbeaten on 33 off 27 balls.
