Home not so sweet for Delhi

NEW DELHI: Delhi Daredevils lost their first two games of the current season, taking their losing streak to 11 matches, spread over two editions of the IPL. They turned things around with two away victories against Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad last week to put their campaign back on track. But they had a jinx to break when they took the field at home against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders on a hot Monday evening – they had lost eight consecutive matches at their home ground, a sequence stretching back to 2013.

Gautam Gambhir’s 60 helped KKR register a comfortable win on Monday. PTI

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 20

Delhi Daredevils lost their first two games of the current season, taking their losing streak to 11 matches, spread over two editions of the IPL. They turned things around with two away victories against Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad last week to put their campaign back on track.

But they had a jinx to break when they took the field at home against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders on a hot Monday evening – they had lost eight consecutive matches at their home ground, a sequence stretching back to 2013.

However, Delhi failed yet again to overcome self-doubt and their poor record at Kotla as they slumped to their ninth successive defeat at home, losing the match by six wickets in a thoroughly one-sided encounter.

Chasing a modest target of 147, Kolkata skipper Gautam Gambhir, Suryakumar Yadav and Yusuf Pathan made merry against a below-par DD attack to consolidate their position on the points table. Kolkata showed Delhi how to win a match on a pitch that goes slower with each passing over as they romped home with 11 balls to spare, scoring 147 for 4 in 18.1 overs. Gambhir top-scored with a match-winning 60 off 49 balls, while Pathan returned unbeaten with a 26-ball 40.

The two joined forces when KKR required another 68 to win. Both treated the Delhi bowlers with disdain to stitch together a 65-run stand for the fourth wicket that sealed the deal in favour of Kolkata.

Earlier, Gambhir won the toss and chose to bowl, leaving Delhi to figure out what would be a good total on a pitch he said he had never seen before. On a dry surface, with a good grass cover, Duminy would have preferred to chase too.

It did not take Delhi much time to figure out the two-paced nature of the wicket as some excellent bowling from Kolkata helped restrict the hosts to a sub-par of 146/8. Delhi lost their first two wickets cheaply as Mayank Agarwal (1) and Duminy (5) departed in quick succession with just 22 on the board.

Shreyas Iyer (31) got off to a good start but failed to capitalise. So did Manoj Tiwary (32) and Yuvraj Singh (21). Angelo Mathews, however, provided some impetus to the innings by smashing Sunil Narine for 20 runs in the 19th over. It was an all-round bowling performance from Kolkata; their pacers struck early and the spinners kept the lid on the scoring rate in the middle overs. Umesh Yadav was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 18, while Morne Morkel and Piyush Chawla also chipped in with two wickets apiece. With Yuvraj's wicket, Chawla got to 100 wickets in the IPL.

The teams observed a minute's silence in memory of Ankit Keshri, who died on Monday.

Scoreboard

Delhi Daredevils

Agarwal c Yadav b Morkel 1

Iyer b Chawla 31

Duminy b Narine 5

Tiwary c Pathan b Morkel 32

Yuvraj st Uthappa b Chawla 21

Mathews c Uthappa b Yadav 28

Jadhav c Gambhir b Yadav 12

Coulter-Nile run out 2

Mishra not out 1