The race for the 2020 Indian Premier League play-offs served up another twist on Saturday as Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab registered crucial victories.
Kolkata were all over Delhi Capitals in the first of Saturday’s double-header, with Dinesh Karthik and his men prevailing by an emphatic margin of 59 runs. A superb 81 from Nitish Rana and an explosive 64 from Sunil Narine helped KKR overcome a slow start to post a daunting total of 194.
In reply, Delhi’s innings was derailed by a sensational spell of bowling from mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy. The KKR spinner’s five-wicket haul helped restrict Delhi’s formidable batting unit to just 135-9.
There was drama aplenty in the second IPL clash of the day, with Sunrisers Hyderabad capitulating in spectacular fashion against the Kings XI. Some excellent bowling from Rashid Khan had kept KXIP’s total down to just 126 before David Warner gave SRH a brisk start with the bat.
Hyderabad were cruising at 100-3 in the chase before suffering a collapse of epic proportions. Chris Jordan and the young Indian duo of Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh picked up a flurry of late wickets as Hyderabad were bowled out for 114 runs.
