Big-hitting Brathwaite unseats Knight Riders

The match in a tweet: Building on Karun Nair’s fifty, Carlos Brathwaite and Sam Billings flexed their muscles to put the match out of Kolkata Knight Riders’ reach.

The result: Delhi Daredevils 8-186 beat Kolkata Knight Riders 9-159 by 27 runs

The Daredevil strategy: As they have gained in confidence, the Daredevils have experimented with their composition this season. JP Duminy's illness forced their hand this time, with Carlos Brathwaite and Sam Billings into the XI. It strengthened their middle order for some big hitting but Imran Tahir had to sit out.

Andre Russell (3-26) opened the bowling, and like in their first match at the Eden Gardens, dismissed both Quinton de Kock and Shreyas Iyer in the same over. The Daredevils were tottering at 2-2.

Sanju Samson and Karun Nair added 30 off 25 before Samson fell to leave Delhi at 3-37 after six overs. Nair assumed charge, counter-attacking but with caution. He ran hard and hardly put a foot wrong, bringing up 50 off 39 with nine fours and a six. Billings, on his IPL debut, provided the acceleration, displaying versatile shot selection as they put on 105 off 68. When Nair departed Brathwaite delivered on the platform provided. He smacked 34 off 11, with three fours and as many sixes, as the Daredevils stole 80 in the final six overs.

The big punt: The Knight Riders needed their in-form openers to fire yet in a tall chase, but skipper Gautam Gambhir (6 off 8) fell cheaply. Then Piyush Chawla was sent in at No.3, a cheeky punt from the Kolkata bench to advance the run-rate, but it fell flat as Zaheer Khan (3-21) sent him back LBW for eight. At the end of the powerplays, Kolkata were 2-43, wondering if they had backed the wrong horse.

A dog's life: In the sixth over a stray dog ran onto the field, and would not leave. Even Chris Morris tried his best, almost losing his balance in the attempt. It wasn’t the only scary moment for the South African. Brought on for the seventh over, the lanky pacer lost his footing and slipped just as he hit his delivery stride. A nasty looking fall but he escaped serious injury.

The faltering run chase: The Daredevils had better luck restricting Kolkata than they had in chasing the dog off the park. The Knight Riders had reached 3-88 after 10 overs, still needing 99. Uthappa hit 72 from 52 and Yadav added 21 from 31 until Shreyas Iyer reeled in a stunner at mid-on to dismiss him. Amit Mishra's impressive caught and bowled to remove Andre Russell was the final nail.

The stat: With his brilliant effort, Sam Billings became the third Englishman to score an IPL half-century on debut, following in the footsteps of Owais Shah (58 for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2010) and Paul Collingwood (53 for Delhi Daredevils in 2010). Also, the last time Kolkata were dismissed in an IPL game was two years and 32 games ago, in 2014, against Kings XI Punjab.

The wash-up: Delhi's win was an upset but a fourth in six games sees them rise to second in the standings with eight points. Kolkata meanwhile will not look fondly on their death bowling as they slip to a second successive defeat.

The next stop: The Knight Riders travel to Bangalore to meet Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday. The Daredevils move on to Rajkot and will play the Gujarat Lions in a clash of the table-toppers on Tuesday.