IPL 2026: Spinners Choke DC as KKR Restrict Hosts to 142/8

On a pitch which had some dry cracks, KKR's vaunted spin attack dismantled DC's batting line-up after they had a bright time in the Power-play, with Pathum Nissanka making a 29-ball fifty. While Anukul Roy stood out by taking 2-31, Sunil Narine (1-17) and Varun Chakaravarthy (0-28) were also miserly in their spells to apply the spin choke on DC.

Such was the effect of the slowdown that from overs 11-16, DC scored just 20 runs for the loss of two wickets and as per CricViz, this is the lowest number of runs scored in this particular phase of the innings in any game in IPL 2026. It took Ashutosh Sharma's late 28-ball 39 to take DC past 140, but the batting issues continued to haunt the hosts, with Kartik Tyagi being excellent in the back end to pick 2-25.

Electing to bowl first, KKR had to bide their time to get their first breakthrough as Nissanka wasted little time in punishing anything loose with authority, while KL Rahul looked equally assured at the other end, as the duo collectively hit eight boundaries in 4.5 overs.

KKR finally got their first breakthrough when Rahul mistimed a slog off Tyagi and was caught by mid-on. After DC ended power-play at 55/1, Nissanka continued to effortlessly hit boundaries with precision and got his fifty in 29 balls. But from the other end, KKR continued to land punches -- Nitish Rana, who once played for them, was undone by a well-disguised short ball from Cameron Green and gloved to short fine leg.

After Sameer Rizvi slog-swept to deep mid-wicket off Sunil Narine, Nissanka was stumped on the very next delivery after getting his fifty -- a wide from Roy lured him down the pitch and Angkrish Raghuvanshi whipped the bails in a flash. Two balls later, Roy castled Tristan Stubbs through the gate to reduce DC to 89/5 in 10.5 overs.

The middle-over squeeze was suffocating. Between overs 7-14, Delhi managed just 45 runs and lost four wickets -- the lowest middle-overs aggregate in this season. Axar Patel and Ashutosh found getting boundaries almost impossible to come by against Narine and Chakaravarthy, who didn't give any room for it.

Just as KKR appeared to be cruising to a formality, Chakaravarthy's final over proved costly. Ashutosh launched him for a six into the sightscreen before cutting two fours in succession and looting 16 runs from the 17th over.

Ashutosh's counterattack at least gave DC's total some semblance of respectability, even as Axar's lean run continued by pulling to mid-wicket off Vaibhav Arora. But Tyagi responded with a superb final over, claiming Ashutosh and seeing Mitchell Starc run out in the span of just three runs to keep DC below 150, as KKR will now fancy their chances of getting their fourth consecutive win.

Brief scores:

Delhi Capitals 142/8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 50, Ashutosh Sharma 39; Kartik Tyagi 2-25, Anukul Roy 2-31) against Kolkata Knight Riders

- IANS