New Delhi: It’s rare to see a century in a low-scoring match but Finn Allen struck an unbeaten 101 off 47 deliveries, helping the Kolkata Knight Riders register their fourth win on the trot. Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, suffered their third consecutive loss.
The Feroz Shah Kotla wicket has sprung many surprises throughout the season: one day it was a belter where over 520 runs were scored, another day it was a sluggish surface that gripped, or it resembled the first session of a Test match with significant movement.
On Friday, DC set KKR a mere 148-run target and it could be argued that they once again failed to come to terms with the pitch.
Spin. Slow. Stump to stump — the Kolkata spinners had received the memo early. It wasn’t a minefield but the Delhi batters struggled to apply themselves. This is exactly what Allen did en route to his century as he led Kolkata Knight Riders to an eight-wicket win.
Allen’s innings, a masterclass in assessing the conditions, seemingly took the pitch out of the equation. The right-hander realised the value of scoring boundaries early in the Powerplay and had pushed for them early on. By contrast, DC’s spinners were ineffective on the pitch and failed to contain the Allen and Cameron Green duo.
They combined for a 116-run partnership after Axar Patel dismissed Angkrish Raghuvanshi for 1. Allen ensured that the required run rate did not climb at any point. His 21-run takedown of Vipraj Nigam in the 13th over showed he had unlocked another level. He took on Kuldeep Yadav for a couple of sixes in the next over before wrapping the innings up with a six off Mukesh Kumar to finish the innings in 14.2 overs.
Earlier in the innings, it became clear that the pitch required some settling before the batters could truly unleash themselves but yet another modest PowerPlay (55/1) meant that the DC innings never really found another rhythm.
Neither KL Rahul nor Pathum Nissanka went all out in the Powerplay, Rahul departed early and it didn’t help that KKR spinners led by Sunil Narine (1/17) were able to apply the squeeze. Nissanka, carried on and registered his fifty off 29 balls – his second of the season – finding his rhythm but the batters on the other end did not find their rhythm.
DC lost wickets in a cluster during the 10th and 11th over. The boundaries dried up and KKR were all over DC. Anukul Roy picked up 2/31 while a limping Varun Chakhravarthy finished with 0/28.
“We lost too many wickets in the middle overs, that was the turning point. You need to be careful when you lose wickets in a cluster,” said Axar after the match.
Ashutosh Sharma and Axar Patel had a brief 39-run partnership, with Sharma being the aggressor. And Ashutosh’s 39 provided some respectability to the total but a total of 145/8 was always going to be underpar. Pacers Kartik Tyagi (2/25), Vaibhav Arora (1/29) and all-rounder Cam Green (1/12) also contributed alongside the spinners.
