In a nutshell
Kolkata Knight Riders beat Delhi Daredevils by four wickets to register their fourth win in 2017 Indian Premier League. Chasing a target of 169, Zaheer Khan and Pat Cummins rocked the visitors’ top-order but Yusuf Pathan and Manish Pandey then stitched together a 110-run stand to bring KKR’s innings back on track. With nine required off the last over, Pandey hit a six off the fourth ball to release the pressure and sealed the deal for his team with a double of the next delivery. Earlier, Rishabh Pant’s blistering 38 guided DD to 168/7. With this win, KKR dislodged Mumbai Indians to move to the top of the table on a better run-rate.
As is evident from our win probability graph (see the graph here), the game had many thrills to offer, and remained a thriller until the end.
Find the entire quantitative summary here.
How it unfolded
Sanju Samson and Sam Billings put on a quickfire 53-run stand off 37 balls for the opening wicket to give DD a brisk start against KKR. DD were 50 for no loss after five overs. DD’s run rate dipped after losing both their openers but Shreyas Iyer came to the rescue as he added 43 runs with Karun Nair for the third wicket. Iyer contributed 26 off 17 balls with the help of four boundaries. Rishabh Pant took over and smashed Umesh for three sixes and two fours in the 17th over to trigger Delhi’s run rate. Pant scored a quickfire 16-ball 38 that included four sixes and two fours.
Skipper Zaheer Khan gave DD dream start by dismissing both the openers in back to back overs. Pandey, who played an unbeaten knock of 69 off 49 balls, and Pathan, who scored 39-ball 59, came up at a time when KKR were struggling to get going after early jolts from DD pacemen. But the duo kept their nerves and put on a 110-run stand for the fourth wicket to dash DD’s hopes. Pandey kept KKR’s chase on the track, despite losing Pathan, scoring a brisk 37-ball fifty. Pandey, who scored four fours and three sixes, kept his calm in the tense last over in which KKR needed 9 runs for victory which immediately changed into 8 in 3. But Pandey hit a timely six off Amit Mishra and then went for two to seal the victory.
Where the game was won
As can be seen by the graph here, the game was slowly taken away from the Daredevils starting from the 5th over, from where the win probability slowly dropped. This was the partnership between Pandey and Pathan. There was a bit of thrill towards the end, but Pandey finished it off in style.
What this means for the tournament
KKR go on top with this win, and displace Mumbai from the No. 1 position. The Daredevils are still in the race, and can see a lot of positives with this game, especially the form of their captain Zaheer Khan.