Kolkata: A brilliant bowling effort enabled Kolkata Knight Riders to defeat Delhi Daredevils by nine wickets in their opening fixture of the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
After bundling out the Daredevils for a paltry 98, KKR overhauled the target in 14.1 overs. Earlier, pacers Andre Russell (3/24) and John Hastings (2/6) triggered the collapse before the spin duo of Brad Hogg (3/19) and Piyush Chawla (2/21) came to the party. Put in, Delhi Daredevils raced to 24 in just 13 balls.
Quinton de Kock looked imperious when he unsettled Umesh Yadav’s line with successive four and a six. The Knight Riders bounced back in the next over with Russell giving twin breakthroughs of de Kock (17 from 10 balls) and Shreyas Iyer (0) before Hasting tightened things up the other end.
Coming at No 7, Carlos Brathwaite received a thunderous applause from the KKR supporters as the World T20 hero lived up to the hype with a second-ball six but only to be trapped plumb deceived by a Chawla googly two balls later.
Earlier, de Kock was deceived by the bounce and took a top edge that Yusuf Pathan almost fumbled at mid off with the ball popping out before taking in his third attempt. For KKR, John Hastings bowled a tidy spell.
