NEW DELHI: Powered by
Varun Chakaravarthy
's three-wicket haul and
Phil Salt
's commanding half-century, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) clinched a convincing 7-wicket victory against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their
IPL 2024
encounter at the iconic
Eden Gardens
.
Chasing a target of 154 runs, KKR's batsmen made light work of the total, reaching the mark in just 16.3 overs. Salt's explosive innings, scoring 68 runs off 33 balls which included 7 fours and 5 sixes, set the tone for the chase, leaving little for captain
Shreyas Iyer
and
Venkatesh Iyer
to do in the final stretch.
Despite
Axar Patel
's spin brilliance, claiming 2 wickets for 25 runs, DC found themselves unable to defend the modest total set by
Rishabh Pant
's team.
With this victory, KKR solidified their position at the No. 2 spot on the IPL 2024 points table with 12 points, while Delhi Capitals languished at the sixth position with the same number of points.
Salt was quite pleased with the performance of the KKR bowlers and wants to keep backing himself when it comes to bat aggressively at the start.
"Good to be contributing. We have had a good run of home games, nice to have that continuity of conditions. Had to bounce back from a tough last game. Pleased to see the bowlers put in that sort of performance, really pleased for them. (On his attacking approach) It is high-risk but it is also about putting the odds in your favour and not taking the risks you don't want to. You just have to keep backing yourself and keep taking the right options," Salt said after the match.
"Very helpful to keep on it first and see what it is doing. So, when you come out, you have a fairly good idea of how the surface is playing. (On his conversations with Narine) Off field, we have a laugh. On the field, not a lot. We usually do the talking a day before. He (Narine) does not talk much but he is a deep thinker of the game. (On them taking turns to attack) That is also part of the communication. If one of us gets going, you feed the strike to the other person. Good that we are on the same page like that," Salt added.