A blistering innings of 41 off 12 balls by Andre Russell, backed by tight bowling, gave the Kolkata Knight Riders a 71-run victory over the Delhi Daredevils.
The Daredevils like chasing, and they got away with it last time on the back of Jason Roy’s 91, which helped them chase down the Mumbai Indians’ target of 194.
But they must have been questioning the wisdom of their decision to bowl first in Kolkata when the Knight Riders ran up 200-9. It would have been more but for the fact that they took five wickets in the last three overs for 22 runs.
Rahul Tewatia claimed three of those in the last over, ending with 3-12 off three overs, while Chris Morris (returning after illness to replace Dan Christian) undermined the middle order by removing Nitish Rana (59) and captain Dinesh Karthik (19), although his four overs cost 41 runs.
While Rana took the honours as top-scorer, it was Russell who provided the turbo boost, slamming 41 off 12 balls. In typical West Indian fashion, he included six sixes in that score, so that he only had to run five. That was a strike rate of almost 342.
In reply, the Daredevils lost three wickets within the powerplay, and few teams come back from that.
A stand of 64 between Rishabh Pant (43 off 26) and Glen Maxwell (47 off 22) was ended by the left-arm chinaman of Kuldeep Yadav, who dismissed both in successive overs.
And that was that. The Daredevils collapsed in a heap. After that fourth-wicket stand, no batsman scored more than seven. Bowled out for 129 with almost six overs to spare.
