Kolkata Knight Riders dominated with the bat and the ball to secure a thumping seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals on Monday, at Eden Gardens. After having restricted the visitors to 153 for 9, they chased down he total with 21 balls to spare. With this victory, they consolidated their second spot on the points table, moving two points ahead of the third-placed Chennai Super Kings.

The difference:

The middle overs

KKR may have not had the most productive period with the bat in the middle overs, but that is where they dented DC so hard with the ball that the visitors couldn't fight their way back into the contest. It set the platform for KKR's massive victory in the contest.

Powerplay:

Runs and wickets aplenty

DC: 67/3 (RR: 11.17, 4s/6s: 7/4)

Prithvi Shaw powered the visitors to a quick start with three boundaries in the opening over, but KKR were quick to strike back with a flurry of wickets. Shaw was caught edging the ball going down the leg, Jake Fraser-McGurk was caught at deep square leg, and Shai Hope was cleaned up by Vaibhav Arora. Breezy innings by Fraser-McGurk and Porel did help with the scoring rate though.

Middle overs:

Chakravarthy triple strike dents DC

DC: 45/5 (RR: 5.00, 4s/6s: 5/0)

KKR continued to pick wickets and Harshit Rana struck off the fourth ball after the field restrictions were lifted. Pant attempted to steady DC through the middle overs, but their efforts to be on the offensive proved counter productive. Pant and Tristan Stubbs were undone by Chakravarthy, while Axar Patel's struggled stay was ended by Sunil Narine. DC were forced to bring in their Impact Substitute (Kumar Kushagra) in the 13th over but that didn't give them the desired result either, also getting caught behind off Chakravarthy. With wickets falling at regular intervals, DC fell on the defensive.

Death overs:

Kuldeep fights till the end

DC: 41/1 (RR: 8.20, 4s/6s: 4/1)

Kuldeep Yadav, batting at No 9, hung in there till the end and put on a 29-run stand in 24 balls with Rasikh Salakm for the ninth wicket. En route he even pulled Mitchell Starc for a six. While the rest of the bowlers made merry, the Australian pacer continued to have a terrible run in the ongoing IPL. The left-armer lost his line and followed up with a wide down the leg side which went for a four and the next delivery was pulled away for another boundary by Kuldeep. While it didn't threaten to take the momentum away from KKR, valuable runs were added to DC's total and helped them to a respectable score.

Powerplay:

Salt attack on the bowlers

KKR: 79/0 (RR: 13.17, 4s/6s: 10/4)

Phil Salt took little time to get going in the run-chase, smashing Lizaad Williams for 23 runs - the most expensive opening over this season. A no-ball by Williams helped in the first over and a dropped catch further aided in the second. Salt hogged much of the strike and continued the slam-bang approach which has got him much success in the recent games. Narine was tested with a few short deliveries, but he managed to deal with those effectively. The half-century of the partnership was brought up in only 26 balls. In the last over of the powerplay, Salt hammered Khaleel Ahmed for a six down the ground to bring up his half-century in only 23 deliveries.

Middle overs:

DC strike but fail to seize momentum

KKR: 62/3 (RR: 6.88, 4s/6s: 6/1)

Having gone through the powerplay without employing their successful spin duo of Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, DC found success once they were brought into operation. Axar struck off the first ball of the seventh over, having Narine caught at deep mid wicket. In his next over, he cleaned up Salt with an arm delivery that the batter attempted to cut. Rinku Singh, who was promoted to No. 3 couldn't make much of an impact either and top-edged a pull to third man, getting dismissed in the 11th over for a run-a-ball 11. However, Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer controlled the chase from thereon.

Death overs:

A quick wrap-up

KKR: 62/3 (RR: 6.88, 4s/6s: 6/1)

With 13 more runs needed to overhaul the target, Shreyas and Venkatesh broke little sweat, completing the formalities in nine balls with the latter tonking the last of those deliveries by Salam down the ground for a six.

Brief Scores:

Delhi Capitals 153/9 in 20 overs (Kuldeep Yadav 35*, Rishabh Pant 27; Varun Chakravarthy 3-16, Harshit Rana 2-28) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 157/3 in 16.3 overs (Phil Salt 68, Shreyas Iyer 33; Axar Patel 2-25) by 7 wickets