IPL: DC finish on high as KKR miss out

Delhi Capitals ended their Indian Premier League campaign with a 40-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday night at Eden Gardens.

Kuldeep Yadav (3-29), Lungi Ngidi (3-27) and Mitchell Starc (2-26) all kept the wickets coming in defence of their 203/5, as the hosts collapsed to defeat.

KKR had taken the field with their slim playoff hopes still alive.

But relying on results elsewhere is a dangerous business and their dream was extinguished as Rajasthan Royals completed a victory over Mumbai Indians to pinch fourth place.

KL Rahul set about adding insult to injury, leading the DC innings with 60 from 30 balls at the top of the order.

Rahul’s long-time India teammate Ajinkya Rahane (63 off 39 balls) replicated his effort in response, only for his departure at 128/4 to burst the balloon of the chase.

Rahane and Finn Allen built up an early head of steam.

But South Africa star Lungi Ngidi had other ideas, bowling Allen for 20 in an over that cost him just four runs.

He had his second thanks to a classy diving catch from veteran Mitchell Starc, who clung on to dismiss Manish Pandey for 25.

Rahane was ploughing his own furrow, though, reaching his 50 in the 11th over to keep the contest in the balance.

He’d advanced that to 63 when supersub Kuldeep had him caught in the deep by David Miller, before Tristan Stubbs snaffled Rinku Singh first ball to leave a hat-trick in the offing.

It would have been one, too, had keeper Abishek Porel not spilt a feathered edge from Tejasvi Dahiya, drawing a justified scowl from the bowler.

But there was no coming back, as Starc and Ngidi mopped up the tail to bowl KKR out for 163.

Earlier, Abishek and Sahil Parakh both reached the 20s without being able to go on, so it was just as well the trusty Rahul did just that.

The 34-year-old needed just 30 balls to strike a dominant 60 before picking out Rovman Powell in the deep.

Captain Axar Patel took on the mantle in pushing his side towards a 200 plus total.

A pair of swatted sixes - including his 100th in the IPL - looked like doing just that but he fell for a 25-ball 39 when he miscued Varun Chakravarthy to long on.

David Miller (28 off 18) had taken his time getting into gear, but the South African launched a pair of sixes in the final over as the 200 came up before he pinged one straight to Allen at mid off.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Tejasvi Dahiya (wk), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakravarthy, Saurabh Dubey, Kartik Tyagi.

Impact Replacements: Allen, Ranjan, Arora, Ramandeep, Tripathi.

DELHI CAPITALS: Abishek Porel, KL Rahul (wk), Sahil Parakh, Tristan Stubbs, David Miller, Axar Patel (capt), Ashutosh Sharma, Madhav Tiwari, Auqib Nabi, Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi.

Impact Replacements: Vijay, Rizvi, Nigam, Rana, Kuldeep.