The action returned in the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League 2023 on Thursday, April 20 as the two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) clashed against each other at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. DC finally opened their winning account after losing back-to-back 5 matches in a row as they defeated KKR by 4 wickets.
Earlier, DC won the toss and invited KKR to put runs on the scoreboard and the decision proved right as KKR batters failed horribly to give a fighting total to the bowlers to defend. They lost their first 3 wickets inside the powerplay on just 32 runs. Litton Das got a chance to open the innings but failed, however, Jason Roy, who was also playing his first match of the season, kept one end safe.
Brilliant bowling performance by DC
The last match centurion, Venkatesh Iyer failed to provide any heroic this time, and skipper Nitish Rana also departed early. KKR's other batters never gave Roy the freedom to bat with intent as he got dismissed after scoring 43 runs off 39 balls which included 5 fours and 1 six.
However, the platform was set for the star KKR allrounder Andre Russel but he didn't do anything special except 3 consecutive sixes to Mukesh Kumar in the final over of the first innings and helped the team to put 127 runs on the scoreboard. DC bowlers never let the visitor's batters set in the middle and were taking wickets in a regular interval of time.
Captain Warner gave DC a flying start in the powerplay while chasing the target, but Prithvi Shaw once again let the crowd down by leaving after only scoring 13 runs. Varun Chakravarthy's dismissal of Warner gave KKR a big breakthrough and allowed them to get back into the game just as it appeared that DC would win this match handily. Rana employed spinners masterfully.
He even bowled his own 4 overs and claimed 2 wickets. But in the last over, DC managed to pursue the goal when Kulwant Khejroliya was unable to defend 7 runs.
Here are some memes which surfaced on social media:
Ipl script writer for delhi match pic.twitter.com/7x9lK95Vsw
— Meet Patel (@meetptlx) April 20, 2023
Other teams to KKR pic.twitter.com/sfNQXmXbSd
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) April 20, 2023
Litton Das be like..
— Adi (suspended soul) (@aaditea_) April 20, 2023
“mai keeping ache se nahi karoga, humara morzi nahi karega mtlb nahi karoga” pic.twitter.com/N7Fl5LWg7L
— Anonymous9726 (@Anonymous97261) April 20, 2023
Akash Choo Mantra Chopra pic.twitter.com/mKdrg0KIot
— 🇮🇳ꪜ𝐢𝐧𝐨⁹⁶🚩 (@Vinod96s) April 20, 2023
delhi capitals impact player pic.twitter.com/fuH4Mmheqt
— Gagan🇮🇳 (@1no_aalsi_) April 20, 2023
His first and last game of cricket bc. He'll never watch any game again after this terror torture 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/JzIJtbX7Zn
— Rama Krishnappa Bariya (@Bittuu_tweets) April 20, 2023
Mandatory :😭 pic.twitter.com/qCMPUokoOA
— 🇮🇳ꪜ𝐢𝐧𝐨⁹⁶🚩 (@Vinod96s) April 20, 2023