Delhi Daredevils faced Kolkata Knight Riders in the first clash of the day. DD who lost their last match to Gujarat Lions by 1 run were looking to change the course of their campaign with a win. KKR suffered their second loss of the season at the hands of Mumbai Indians and were looking to carry on with a win against DD. KKR won the toss and chose to bowl first.

DD’s batting has not yet had that big opening partnership. Shreyas Iyer has not shown glimpse of what he was in the previous edition of IPL. The trend continued when Iyer got out for a duck. Russell got his second wicket in the same over when he dismissed Quinton De Kock when he top-edged the ball to a Brad Hogg who came in for Shakib Al Hasan. Karun Nair and Sam Billings, the IPL debutant got together at a crucial stage and resurrected the DD innings. Nair continued to display his consistency when he scored 68 (50). Sam Billings had a great first match as he scored an aggressive 54(34). The two made sure that they scored quickly pressuring the KKR bowlers and put a partnership of 105 off 68 balls. Carlos Brathwaite’s brutal innings off 34(11) helped DD register their highest total against KKR

KKR had to chase a target of 188 in twenty overs. The in-form opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa got off to a sedated start. Gambhir’s stay at the crease was short when the ball flew off his edge trying to flick a ball shaping away from him, straight to Shreyas Iyer. Piyush Chawla was promoted up the order, but the move failed miserably as Zaheer Khan got another wicket when he was out, LBW. KKR were in a spot of bother when Yusuf Pathan gloved a Brathwaite bouncer to short fine-leg where Mishra caught it. The required run-rate kept increasing and so did the pressure when Iyer took a stunning catch to send the dangerous Suryakumar Yadav back to the pavilion. From there KKR kept losing wickets while Uthappa played a lone hand from one end with a 72 (52). KKR were bundled for a score of 159 with a spectacular bowling and fielding effort from DD. With this match, the top 4 of the table looks even more interesting. It is going to be a nail-biting finish towards the end of the tournament.