Meanwhile, Delhi lost their dream of winning their maiden title in the IPL with a loss to Kolkata. This was Delhi’s third consecutive playoffs this season. Kolkata, who have qualified for the final, are aiming for their third IPL title.
Kolkata’s easy target of 136 was set by Delhi, but they were bowled out for a series of wickets. Batting first, Kolkata were 123 for one in 14.5 overs. But then the Kolkata batsmen came back one by one and Kolkata fell to 130 for seven. In the last over, Ashwin took two wickets in a row, but Rahul Tripathi hit a six off the fifth ball of the final over to give Kolkata the victory.
Shubhman Gill (46 off 45 balls) and Venkatesh Iyer (55 off 41 balls) added 96 runs for the first wicket. Rahul Tripathi remained unbeaten on 12.
Shubhman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer started the innings for Kolkata, who set a 136-run target for Delhi. Later, with Iyer shifting gears, the runs quickly started reaching Kolkata’s scoreboard. Kolkata crossed the 50 mark in 5.4 overs.
After the powerplay overs, the two dropped the bat carefully. Both the singles and doubles were moving forward without lowering the run rate. Later, Venkatesh Iyer scored a half-century. However, in the second ball of the 13th over, Venkatesh Iyer was dismissed by Rabada for a crucial break through. Iyer returned with 55 off 41 balls. Nitish Rana, who replaced Venkatesh Iyer at the crease, could not stay at the crease for long. Rana, who scored 13, was dismissed for an unnecessary shot off Norcia. Avesh Khan then stunned Kolkata by bowling Gill for 46.
Kolkata needed just 11 runs in the last three overs. But Rahul Tripathi and Karthik, who were at the crease, managed just one run in the 18th over off Rabada. Rabada took the wicket of Karthik in the last ball of the over.
In the last two overs, Kolkata set a target of 10 runs. Karthik was replaced by Captain Morgan at the crease. Norcay conceded just three runs in the 19th over and dropped captain Owen Morgan on the last ball to extend the game into the final over. Kolkata, who were 123 for one, were reduced to 129 for five in the final over.
In the final over, Kolkata needed seven runs to win the toss and Rabada was replaced by spinner Ashwin. Shakib Al Hasan, who failed to score in the first two balls of the last over, was caught in front of the wicket in the third ball. With this, Kolkata set a target of six off three balls.
Sunil Narine, the hero of the last match, came to the crease later. On the first ball of the innings, the batsman tried for six and was getting ready in the hands of Akshar Patel near the boundary line. With this, Delhi was hoping for victory. But Rahul Tripathi hit a six off the fifth ball to give Kolkata the lead.
For Delhi, Antich Norke, Ashwin and Rabada took two wickets each while Avesh Khan took one wicket.
Kolkata bowlers bowled well on a slow pitch in Sharjah and Delhi struggled to find the back of the net. He faced 27 balls and remained unbeaten on 30 runs.
Varun Chakraborty took two wickets for Kolkata while Loki Ferguson and Shivam Mavi took one wicket each.
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