IPL 2021: Kolkata holds its nerves to enter final

Kolkata Knight Riders held their nerves to beat Delhi Capitals by three wickets in the second qualifier to make it to the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

On Wednesday night, Delhi posted a modest 135 for five in their 20 overs and in response, Kolkata chased down the target in 19.5 overs to finish on 136 for seven.

Earlier, Delhi made one change to their playing XI bringing in Marcus Stoinis in place of Tom Curran. Kolkata went in unchanged.

Delhi made a confident start with veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan leading the way. Thereafter, Shreyas Iyer took over in the middle overs, but accurate Kolkata bowling put paid to Delhi hopes. None of the other batsmen contributed enough for the side to post a huge total. Delhi in the end finished on 135 for five. For Kolkata, the best bowler was Varun Chakravarthy (2-26).

Kolkata started the chase in fine style. The openers Shubman Gill (46) and Venkatesh Iyer (55) added 96 for the opening wicket. But thereafter there was a collapse as Kolkata went from 123 for one to 130 for seven losing six wickets in 22 balls. Delhi came back into the contest thanks to fine spells by Anrich Nortje (2-31), Ravichandran Ashwin (2-27) and Kagiso Rabada (2-23). They managed to Kolkata under a lot of pressure as they lost two wickets in the final over. Finally, Rahul Tripathi hit a six off the penultimate ball to seal Kolkata's place in its third final.

WHAT. A. FINISH! ?? ?? @KKRiders hold their nerve and seal a thrilling win over the spirited @DelhiCapitals in the #VIVOIPL #Qualifier2 & secure a place in the #Final. ?? ?? #KKRvDC

Scorecard ?? https://t.co/eAAJHvCMYS pic.twitter.com/Qqf3fu1LRt

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 13, 2021

Match Summary

Kolkata Knight Riders: 135-5 (20)
Fall of wickets: 1-32 (Prithvi Shaw-4.1 ov), 2-71 (Marcus Stoinis-11.3 ov), 3-83 (Shikhar Dhawan-14.1 ov), 4-90 (Rishabh Pant-15.2 ov), 5-117 (Shimron Hetmyer-18.3 ov)

Kolkata Knight Riders: 136-7 (19.5)
Fall of wickets: 1-96 (Venkatesh Iyer-12.2 ov), 2-123 (Nitish Rana-15.6 ov), 3-125 (Shubman Gill-16.4 ov), 4-126 (Dinesh Karthik-17.6 ov), 5-129 (Eoin Morgan-18.6 ov), 6-130 (Shakib Al Hasan-19.3 ov), 7-130 (Sunil Narine-19.4 ov)

Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by three wickets

Scorecard

Playing XIs

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Eoin Morgan (captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Shivam Mavi

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Rishabh Pant (captain & wicket-keeper), Shimron Hetmyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Anrich Nortje

Match Details

Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders, elected to field
Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah
Start time: 1800 hrs UAE time
Match officials: KN Ananthapadmabhan, Michael Gough (On-field Umpires); Chris Gaffaney (TV Umpire); Anil Chaudhary (Reserve Umpire); Manu Nayyar (Match-referee)

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