NationalPolitics

IPL-19: DC settles score with KKR in an unimportant match, sixth place in points table with seventh win

By Samira Vishwas

Kolkata24 May. There is no doubt that when Rajasthan Royals (RR) completed the playoff lineup of Tata Indian Premier League (IPL-19) 2026 by defeating Mumbai Indians (MI) on their home ground in the first match of the double header on Sunday, the last day of the league stage, the 70th and final match that had started here between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) had lost its significance. The reason for this was that with the victory of Rajasthan, the hopes of Punjab Kings and KKR were over.

Perfect bowling by Kuldeep and Angidi after Rahul’s fifty

DC, who were out of the race a day earlier, showed their strength even in this unimportant match and after KL Rahul’s fifth half-century of the current season (60 runs, 30 balls, four sixes, five fours), won against KKR by 40 runs thanks to the accurate bowling of ‘Player of the Match’ Kuldeep Yadav (3-29) and Lungi Ngidi (3-27). Along with this, Delhi also paid the bill for the big defeat (eight wickets) against KKR in the first meeting with the same force.

DC reached 203 runs due to useful innings of Rahul and other batsmen.

Since there was nothing much at stake in the match, the lack of enthusiasm among the players was clearly visible on the field. Well, Delhi Capitals, forced to bat first at Eden Gardens, scored a strong score of 203 runs for five wickets with the useful innings of other batsmen including Rahul and captain Akshar Patel (39 runs, 25 balls, two sixes, three fours).

Despite Rahane’s half-century, KKR collapsed for 163 runs.

In retaliation, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane was successful in scoring only his second half-century of the current season (63 runs, 39 balls, four sixes, four fours). But in front of other bowlers including Kuldeep and Angidi, no other batsman could cross the 30-run mark and the host team collapsed for 163 runs in 18.4 overs.

Delhi Capitals ended their campaign by finishing sixth

Interestingly, this was the third consecutive win for Delhi Capitals, who had defeated Punjab and Rajasthan in the last two matches and finished the league stage in sixth place with 14 points from seven wins in 14 matches. KKR, which could not win a single win in the first six matches, undoubtedly improved its position and kept itself in the race for the playoffs till the last day. At present, it had to be content with seventh place with 13 points due to seventh defeat in 14 matches.

KKR’s last 7 batsmen could add only 35 runs.

If seen, as soon as left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep dismissed Rahane at a total of 128 in the 14th over, the process of fall of KKR’s wickets started and the last seven wickets fell within 35 runs. In this sequence, Kuldeep dismissed Rinku Yadav on the very next ball, but missed out on scoring a hat-trick because Abhishek Porel dropped the catch of Tejashwi Dahiya. Whereas Mitchell Starc (2-26) sent two batsmen to the pavilion in the same over.

score card

Overall, apart from Rahane, only three batsmen Rovman Powell (29 runs, 21 balls, one six, three fours), Manish Pandey (25 runs, 16 balls, two sixes, two fours) and Finn Allen (20 runs, 13 balls, one six, three fours) could reach double digits. In these, Angidi ended the host innings by dismissing Varun Chakraborty after hunting Allen and Manish.

Along with Rahul and Akshar, Miller, Sahil, Poral and Ashutosh also showed their strong hands.

Earlier in Delhi’s innings, apart from Rahul and Akshar, David Miller (28 runs, 19 balls, three sixes), Sahil Parakh (24 runs, 17 balls, one six, three fours), Abhishek Poral (22 runs, 18 balls, four fours) and Ashutosh Sharma (18 not out, 11 balls, one six, two fours) played useful innings and took the team beyond 200. For KKR, left arm spinner Saurabh Dubey took two wickets for 28 runs while Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakraborty shared three wickets among themselves.

Qualifier 1 will be played between RCB and GT on 26th May

Now, after a day’s rest, in the first clarifier of the playoff, the teams of defending champions Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) will face each other in Dharamshala on 26th May, while the next day on 27th May, there will be an eliminator match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in New Chandigarh.

The losing team of the first qualifier will face the winner of the eliminator in Qualifier 2 on May 29 in New Chandigarh and the winner of that match will face the winner of Qualifier 1 in Ahmedabad on May 31 in the final.

Samira Vishwas 2320 posts 0 comments
You might also like More from author

Comments are closed.