IPL 2023: Fiery spells from Ishant, Axar, Nortje, Kuldeep help DC bundle out KKR for 127

Apr 20, 2023

New Delhi [India], April 20 : Fiery spells from Ishant Sharma, Anrich Nortje, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav helped Delhi Capitals bundle out Kolkata Knight Riders for 127 in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match here at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday.
For DC, Ishant, Axar, Nortje and Kuldeep bagged two wickets respectively while Mukesh Kumar scalped one. For KKR, Jason Roy scored the highest with 43 off 39 while Andre Russell played an unbeaten crucial knock of 38 in 31 deliveries. KKR threw wickets away in the powerplay and paid the price as they were only able to post 127 runs on the scoreboard.
Opted to field first, Delhi Capitals bowlers got the better of KKR by dismissing Kolkata's three batters in under powerplay. In the second over, Mukesh Kumar dismissed Litton Das while Anrich Nortje got the better of Venkatesh Iyer. In the 6th over, Ishant Sharma sent KKR captain Nitish Rana packing while Axar Patel got the wicket of Mandeep Singh.
Jason Roy then tried to handle the charge as he smoked a six over Kuldeep Yadav in the 10th over of the game. Axar then delivered a tunning over to send Rinku Singh packing for 6. In the 12th over of the game, Ishant bagged his second wicket of the match as he dismissed Sunil Narine for 4. Playing his first IPL match since 2021, Ishant showed all his experience and finished his 4-overs spell with a figure of 2-19.
Narine's wicket invited power hitter Andre Russell to the crease. The duo of Russell and Roy slammed Mitchell Marsh for 15 runs with the help of one maximum and four in the 14th over. In the 15th over, Kuldeep Yadav was brought back into the attack and the Chinaman delivered a fine ball to dismiss set batter Roy for 43. In the same over, Kuldeep removed new batter Anukul Roy for a duck.
Anrich Nortje snapped the wicket of Umesh Yadav in the 16th over of the innings. Russell brought up his team's total beyond the 100-run mark in the 17th over of the game.
In the last over, Russell slammed a hat-trick of six to pile 19 runs in Mukesh Kumar's spell and took his team's total to 127.
Brief score: Kolkata Knight Riders 127 (Jason Roy 43, Andre Russell 38*; Axar Patel 2-13) vs Delhi Capitals.