Delhi Capitals (DC) secured their first win of the IPL 2023 season, defeating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by four wickets in a rain-delayed match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday. DC's bowlers dominated KKR, with Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, and Anrich Nortje taking two wickets each, restricting KKR to a paltry 127 runs in 20 overs.
Jason Roy was the only batsman to offer resistance for KKR, scoring 43 off 39 deliveries, while Andre Russell scored an unbeaten 38 off 31 balls.
In response, DC's skipper David Warner led from the front with a crucial 57 off 41 deliveries, hitting ten boundaries in the powerplay. However, KKR's spinners made a comeback in the middle overs, causing a slump in DC's run rate, with the hosts scoring 43 runs for the loss of three wickets.
Varun Chakravarthy gave KKR the first breakthrough by dismissing Prithvi Shaw for 13, but Warner's impressive innings kept DC's chase on track. KKR's Nitish Rana removed Mitchell Marsh cheaply for two, and Anukul Roy got Philip Salt for five, but Warner brought up his fourth fifty of the season with a boundary off Roy in the 11th over.
Chakravarthy bowled a maiden 14th over with the big wicket of set batter Warner, ending his innings. Axar Patel and Manish Pandey took DC closer to the target, but Roy got his second wicket by dismissing Pandey for 21. Rana cleaned up Aman Hakim Khan for a duck, and the momentum shifted towards KKR.
Axar Patel survived three close calls and remained unbeaten on 14 off 16 deliveries, while Lalit Yadav scored 11 off seven balls, as DC won the match with three balls to spare.
Earlier, KKR's innings got off to a poor start, with Ishant Sharma and Mukesh Kumar taking a wicket each in the first two overs. Nortje dismissed last-match centurion Venkatesh Iyer for a duck, and Ishant sent Rana back for four, reducing KKR to 33/3 in six overs.
Roy played a gritty knock of 43, but KKR kept losing wickets at regular intervals, with Axar Patel taking three wickets and Ishant Sharma and Nortje taking two each. Russell hit two sixes in the final over to take KKR to 127/10.
With this win, DC moves to the sixth spot in the points table, while KKR slips to fourth.