After Shreyas' 40-ball 93, bowlers help Gambhir-less Delhi beat KKR by 55 runs
Shreyas Iyer began his captaincy stint with Delhi Daredevils in some style, smashing an incredible 93 off just 40 balls (3 fours and 10 sixes) to help the hosts register a 55-run victory against Kolkata Knight Riders here at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Friday.
Thus, Delhi ended their losing run and registered only their second victory of the season to move above Mumbai Indians into seventh position.
Prior to Iyer's innings, the openers gave the perfect start after their underperforming former skipper Gautam Gambhir was dropped from the starting eleven. Prithvi Shaw was impressive with his 62 off 44 balls as Delhi posted a massive 219/4.
Kolkata were never really in the chase, losing wickets at regular intervals to end their 20 overs at 164/9.
At the start it was all about Gambhir's exclusion. But, the decision to exclude the seasoned campaigner from the starting eleven seemed to work as the openers set the platform for a massive total.
Shaw and Colin Munro took the attack to the opposition from the word go.
Youngster Shivam Mavi brought an end to the blistering start in the last ball of the seventh over, knocking the stumps of Munro. The New Zealand batsman hit 33 off 18 balls and the fruitful opening partnership accounted for 59 runs.
Shaw allowed new batsman Iyer time to settle down as the 18-year-old was doing most of the hitting.
He brought his 38-ball fifty with a four.
Chawla finally brought an end to the young left-hander's beautiful innings. Shaw swung the bat, but the ball did not bounce much and clipped the middle stump. The youngster was rightly applauded by the fans when he departed for 62 off 44 balls (7 fours and 2 sixes). Delhi were 127/2 in 14 overs.
Soon after, Andre Russell sent Rishabh Pant packing for a golden duck after Dinesh Karthik took a simple catch behind the stumps.
Any hopes of a Kolkata fight back was quickly thwarted off by Iyer's brilliance.
The new-skipper was lucky to get to his fifty after the ball slipped through Uthappa's fingers at long-on for a six. The lucky escape did not slow Iyer down as he kept striking the ball superbly.
Glenn Maxwell supported him well with timely blows.
In the subsequent over and the match's last over, Maxwell (27 off 18 balls) was run out.
Irrespective of the run out, Delhi scored a massive 29 runs in that final over, mainly owing to Iyer's sensational batting.
He struck four sixes and a four off young Shivam's bowling. As a result of which, the 19-year-old bowler finished with appalling figures of 1/58 in his four overs.
Chasing the massive total, Kolkata Knight Riders had a wobbling start. In the second over, Maxwell clean bowled the dangerous Chris lynn (5 off 6 balls).
In the first ball of the subsequent over, Robin Uthappa (1 off 2 balls) hit one straight to Prithvi Shaw in midwicket.
Then, Trent Boult brought an end to Sunil Narine's (26 off 9 balls) mini cameo. In three overs, Kolkata were languishing at 33/3.
Next to make way was Nitish Rana. In the first ball off the sixth over, Rana (8 off 7 balls) mistimed his pull-shot as Avesh Khan completed a caught and bowled.
New batsman Shubman Gill and Dinesh Karthik tried to resurrect the innings and were successful to an extent.
Experienced spinner Amit Mishra ended the partnership after Karthik (18 off 18 balls), trying to clear one over the ropes gave a simple catch to Boult in deep backward point.
In-form Andre Russel got into the act straight away. Gill supported him ably as Kolkata were 140/5 in 15 overs.
But, Knight Riders caused their own downfall after Gill (37 off 29 balls) got himself run-out, trying to take an ambitious single in the 16th over.
In the last ball of that over, Mishra clean bowled Shivam Mavi to complete a wicket maiden over.
When Avesh dislodged Russell's stumps, it looked all over for Kolkata. The West Indian went for 44 off 30 balls as Kolkata were already down and out at 144/8 in 17.5 overs.
With the run rate going out of reach, Maxwell got rid of Piyush Chawla as Delhi returned to winnings ways in some style.