Iyer Shines as DC hold nerve to eke out win in Sharjah

Delhi Capitals 228 for 4 (Iyer 88*, Shaw 66, Pant 38, Russell 2-29) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 210 for 8 (Rana 58, Morgan 44, Tripathi 36, Nortje 3-33, Patel 2-34) by 18 runs

Sharjah: Eoin Morgan and Rahul Tripathi's blistering effort went in vain as Delhi Capitals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 18 runs at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

Chasing a monumental target of 229, KKR had a poor start as they lost their opener Sunil Narine (3) early. He was bowled out by Anrich Nortje in the second over.

Nitish Rana joined Shubman Gill in the middle and stitched a 71-run partnership for the second wicket. In the ninth over, Amit Mishra provided the second breakthrough for Delhi as he bagged Gill (28).

All-rounder Andre Russell promoted up in the order failed to leave his mark on the scoreboard and was sent back to the pavilion by Kagiso Rabada in the 10th over.

Russell scored 13 runs off eight balls. After Russell's dismissal, skipper Dinesh Karthik and Rana played cautiously and built a brief 23-run partnership.

Harshal Patel got rid of Rana in the 13th over. He played a knock of 58 runs off 35 balls. On the next ball, Patel bagged Karthik (6) and brought back Delhi in the game.

Pat Cummins (5) failed to score big runs and was dismissed by Nortje in the 14th over.

Morgan and Tripathi then had a blazing partnership of 78-run off 31 balls.

Morgan smashed Rabada for three consecutive sixes in the 18th over and accumulated 23 runs in that over. After that KKR were required 31 off the last two overs.

Nortje bagged Morgan in the penultimate over. He played a knock of 44 runs off 18 balls studded with five sixes.

In the last over, KKR needed 26 runs with three wickets in hand.

Marcus Stoinis bowled the final over of the match and bagged Tripathi on the second ball and put rest on Kolkata's hope of winning the game. He scored 36 runs off 16 balls including three sixes and as many fours.

KKR only managed to score seven runs in the final six balls.

For Delhi, Nortje bagged three wickets while Patel scalped two dismissals.

Earlier, a scintillating batting performance by Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant powered Delhi Capitals to post a mammoth total of 228 runs in their allotted 20 overs.

Shreyas smashed a well made 88 off just 38 balls while Pant slammed 38 runs in 17 balls as Delhi Capitals set a target of 229 runs for KKR.

Asked to bat first, Delhi Capitals got off to a flyer with the team scoring more than fifty runs in the powerplay. Both the openers Shikhar Dhawan and Shaw started off well, whacking sixes and fours at regular intervals.

However, Dhawan's rampage came to an end after he top-edged the ball high in the air and Morgan took a perfect catch in the sixth over.

Skipper Shreyas then joined Shaw and dominated the KKR bowling attack. Shaw smashed four sixes before Kamlesh Nagarkoti ended his stint at the crease in the 13th over.

Pant then joined Shreyas in the middle and the duo bludgeoned the KKR bowling attack with their fabulous batting performance. The duo slammed 18 runs in the 16th over and 17 runs in the 17th over.

Meanwhile, Shreyas also completed his fastest half-century in IPL. Delhi Capitals crossed the 200 run mark in the 18th over courtesy Pant's splendid innings. Andre Russell ended Pant's knock in the 18th over. The left-handed batsman smashed 38 runs off 17 balls.

Stoinis came in to bat ahead of Shimron Hetmyer in the death overs but failed to leave a mark. Meanwhile, Shreyas continued his onslaught on KKR bowlers. However, a good final over by Russell restricted Delhi Capitals to 228/4.

For KKR, Russell picked two while Chakravarthy and Nagarkoti scalped one wicket each.