IPL 2018: Shreyas Iyer smashes 40-ball 93 as Delhi Daredevils beat Kolkata Knight Riders

Shreyas Iyer celebrated his promotion to captaincy with a sensational 40-ball 93 not out as Delhi Daredevils beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 55 runs in an IPL 2018 match at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground on Friday. (DD vs KKR IPL 2018 HIGHLIGHTS)

Adversity can sink sides or they suddenly find a way to swim, and it turned out to be a good day for Daredevils at the halfway mark. Delhi Daredevils, with little to lose as the bottom-placed side with the crisis having forced Gautam Gambhir to step down as skipper, put together a calm show after being asked to bat first. (DD vs KKR IPL 2018 SCORES)

Iyer, 23, could easily have caved in under the burden of leadership, but a solid opening partnership between Prithvi Shaw (62 – 44b, 7x4, 2x6) and Colin Munro, the New Zealand left-hander who replaced Gambhir at the top, set up the innings.

He smashed his third successive IPL 2018 half-century, and ninth overall in the tournament (3x4, 10x6) as he exploded in the final overs of the innings that saw 40 runs scored off the last two overs.

The 59-run opening stand was followed by 68 runs between Shaw and Iyer. Shaw, who played classy shots, was bowled by leg-spinner Piyush Chawla in the 14th over and that was signal for Shreyas to take over.

He reached his third successive fifty of IPL 2018 with a six, Robin Uthappa failing to take a catch off rookie pacer Shivam Mavi at the boundary and letting the ball slip over the rope. Iyer got another lucky six the next over, the team’s 18th, off spinner Sunil Narine but then hit two stunning shots against Mavi that sailed into the stands.

Shreyas and Glenn Maxwell tore into the bowling as the last four overs saw 76 runs. Maxwell was run out in the final over, but KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik seemed to have misjudged the situation by asking Mavi to bowl the 20th over.

Four sixes and a boundary were hit as 29 runs came off that over as Shreyas fed off the pace, taking Daredevils to 219/4. In reply, KKR could only manage 164/9.

Delhi Daredevils went into the game having won just one of their six previous outings to be at the bottom of the points table.

KKR seemed to have things in control despite Delhi’s solid two partnerships and Shaw’s dismissal in the 14th over seemed to hand them some control. However, the Shreyas Iyer special and Maxwell’s (27-18b) effort kept the hosts on top.