Mumbai, Apr 10 (IANS): Fifties from openers Prithvi Shaw (51 off 29 balls) and David Warner (61 off 45 balls) followed by a late onslaught from Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur took Delhi Capitals to a gigantic 215/5 against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Brabourne Stadium on Sunday.
Shaw and Warner, along with Rishabh Pant's burst of 27 set the stage for Delhi to amass a massive total. But Sunil Narine, with his 2/21, staged a mini-fightback for Kolkata as 200 looked difficult for Delhi to achieve. It took a whirlwind stand of 49 off just 20 balls from Patel (22 not out) and Thakur (29 not out) to set a 216-run target for Kolkata.
Shaw began the innings by punching Umesh Yadav through extra cover for a boundary on the first ball of the innings. Three balls later, Yadav strayed in line and Shaw whipped through fine leg to collect his second boundary in the opening over.
In the next over, Shaw danced down the pitch and slapped Rasikh Salam through covers for four. Warner then joined the party with a pulled four through mid-wicket. With pacers finding no support from the pitch, Yadav had Shaw in a tangle with a sharp bouncer but the batter hooked well for four.
Yadav bowled short again and hit Shaw's helmet as ball flew over short third man for four leg-byes. After the conclusion of the concussion test, Shaw flicked Yadav through mid-wicket to complete an eventful over. Warner welcomed Pat Cummins for back-to-back fours through cover before Shaw hammered a pull over deep mid-wicket to bring up Delhi's fifty in just four overs.
Captain Shreyas Iyer introduced spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine. But they weren't able to stop Warner and Shaw as boundaries continued to flow. Shaw then slammed Venkatesh Iyer's part-time pace for a four and six on both sides of the wicket followed by reaching his fifty in 27 balls. Chakravarthy broke the 93-run opening stand by castling Shaw through the gate with a googly.
Rishabh Pant's promotion to three worked well as he swept Narine through fine leg as Delhi reached century-mark at halfway stage. Chakravarthy came under attack from Pant, who slog-swept for a six followed by reverse-sweeping for four more. After two no-balls and byes, Warner crunched Chakravarthy for a boundary through cover to take 24 runs off the 11th over.
Warner then got his fifty by smacking Andre Russell over long-on but Pant fell as he sliced uppishly to deep backward point. Narine brought Kolkata back in the match as he took out Lalit Yadav and Rovman Powell in quick succession.
It was followed by Yadav removing Warner as the left-hander mistimed pull to deep mid-wicket. Axar Patel and Shardul Thakur smashed boundaries off Yadav and Cummins to take 39 runs off the last two overs, providing Delhi with the perfect finish to go past 210-mark.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 215/5 in 20 overs (David Warner 61, Prithvi Shaw 51; Sunil Narine 2/21, Andre Russell 1/16) against Kolkata Knight Riders