IPL 2023: Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Match 28 - Talking Points and Who Said What?

Delhi Capitals have finally managed to open their account as the David Warner-led side defeated Kolkata Knight Riders in the 28th match of the ongoing Indian Premier League 2023 at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday, April 20. While this was Delhi's first victory of the tournament that came after the catharsis of five consecutive losses, it was the third consecutive loss for KKR as the Nitish Rana-led side last claimed a victory in their historic chase against Gujarat Titans. With the tournament attaining pace, KKR would soon look to reverse their fate and get back to winning ways.

DC looked in command right from the word go as they won the toss and invited KKR to bat first. The visitors took the field with a new opening pair of Jason Roy and Litton Das which failed to last long as Das was dismissed in the second over of the innings by Mukesh Kumar. What followed was a debacle, as the KKR batting order came tumbling down under the wrath of the DC bowlers. The visitors somehow managed to put 127 runs on the board on the back of Roy's and Andre Russell's innings of 43 and 38*, respectively. In return, David Warner led the chase for Delhi as the home team got past KKR's total with four balls and equinumerous wickets to spare. For the home team, Warner and Pandey scored 57 and 21, respectively.

Let's look at the Talking Points from the game-

Jason Roy's tryst with promising debut performances continue

Although not a regular in the cash-rich league, Jason Roy has long been a promising prospect. He is particularly known for making dream debuts for his respective IPL franchises and today wasn't any different either. While most of the KKR batters succumbed to the wrath of the Delhi bowlers, it was Roy who held on to the reins of the team up the order, before being aided by Andre Russell. Roy hit five fours and one six to score 43 runs off 39 balls on his KKR debut. Earlier, Roy had scored 91* on his debut for Delhi Capitals in the year 2018.

Ishant Sharma claims two wickets for Delhi Capitals after a gap of 718 days

Veteran Indian pacer Ishant Sharma, who had long been warming the bench for Delhi Capitals, was included by the team for their match against KKR. Ishant rose to the occasion as he claimed two crucial wickets to open his account for DC after 718 days. Ishant first dismissed Nitish Rana in the sixth over and followed it up with the wicket of Sunil Narine in the 12th over as the 34-year-old finished his quota of four overs with 19 runs and two wickets. Ishant had last taken a wicket for DC in 2021. 

David Warner continues to be the lone warrior for DC

Right from the start of the tournament, David Warner has been at the helm of Delhi's batting unit. While the rest of the team has failed to deliver consistent performances, Warner has adorned the league with four half-centuries in six appearances, with the fourth one coming in today's match against KKR. He took only 33 balls to complete his half-century and further stretched the innings to play eight more balls before falling prey to Varun Chakravarthy. Warner scored 57 runs in 41 balls, courtesy of 11 fours.

Losing captain, Nitish Rana said

I think we were 15-20 runs short on such a difficult pitch. I take the responsibility for this, I should have stood there instead of throwing my wicket away. Credit to the bowlers though, I think the upcoming games will be good for us if we continue bowling and fighting like this. We were just trying to delay the outcome, but they (DC) played really well in the powerplay, that's where they won the game. We need to play well as a team. We need to bowl like the way we did today, if we manage to sort these things out, we can fight better I guess.

Winning captain, David Warner said

Finally. We scrapped our way to it. Over to Hyderabad. We are really proud of the bowling unit. We did exceptionally well to get wickets in the PP. We lost wickets in cluster. We are very honest to each other. We discussed about areas to improve upon. We played an Okay game.

Player of the Match, Ishant Sharma said

I was waiting for my chance. I wanted to win a game for the team whenever I will get a chance. Depends on what kind of plans you have. Matter of time when you want to execute your plans. There is no lucky charm in the team. We would want to win every game from here on, qualify and hopefully win the tournament.