Delhi Capitals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 41 of the 2022 Indian Premier League by 4 wickets with an over in hand courtesy of superb performances from Kuldeep Yadav, Rovman Powell, David Warner, and other key players as well.
DC skipper Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to bowl first which ignited the magic as Chetan Sakariya started strong with a wicket in the second over of the match followed by an Axar Patel wicket as the out of form Venkatesh Iyer walked back to the pavilion.
Baba Indrajith and Sunil Narine too fell prey to Kuldeep’s brilliance as KKR were left hanging at 35/4 in 7.3 overs.
KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer stressed that failures in that period caused the downfall of the team on the night.
Iyer said,
“We started off really slowly and lost a couple of early wickets. It was holding up a bit, but we didn’t get a good score on the board. No real excuses, we have to go back and assess where things are going wrong. A lot of chopping and changing is happening, it’s been difficult to set up the right combination, with all injuries not helping as well.”
In the post-match press conference, Iyer further talked about how the two-time champions need to bounce back to qualify for the playoffs stage.
He continued,
“We need to stick together, play some fearless cricket, not be conservative with the bat. Five more matches remaining, we need to play well, show belief and give something back to the team and the management, forget about the past, start fresh and back your instinct. You need to sit back and think where it’s going wrong, can’t be overconfident, give your best, if we still lose, then it’s fine.”
In the middle overs, Nitish Rana dominated with a quick half-century alongside skipper Iyer who scored 42 runs before returning to the pavilion with Kuldeep getting his fourth wicket of the night courtesy of Pant’s super-quick reflexes.
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Kuldeep got the Man of the Match for his spell of 4/14 in 3 overs as the in-form spinner was surprisingly not allowed to complete his full quota of overs.
The left-arm spinner said,
“I might have become a better bowler, but I am mentally stronger than before. When you fail in life you pick what you can improve on and that is something I had to improve (on). I don’t get scared of failing now. I liked Russell’s wicket as I set him up, it was my plan and when there were a couple of dots I knew he would step out. This is the best IPL season for me. I am enjoying my bowling. I don’t think what the batter will do and what if I get hit. My focus has been to bowl the right line and lengths.”
Yadav talked about how Yuzvendra Chahal helped him during his tough times and went on to say that the wrist-spinner deserves to win the Purple Cap.He concluded,
“There has never been competition with him (Chahal). He’s like my big brother and has always backed me. He kept motivating me when I was injured and I hope he wins the Purple Cap.”