Varun and Salt were instrumental in the KKR team’s comprehensive victory

Following a run-fest where 262 was chased down with eight balls to spare, Eden Gardens reverted to a former template familiar to fans of its home team. Kolkata Knight Riders returned to winning ways and moved to second place on the IPL table with a confident, net-run-rate-boosting seven-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals.

After a series of flat pitches, Eden Gardens presented a surface with a slight degree of grip, which the KKR bowlers exploited to good effect after the Capitals elected to bat first. Mitchell Starc and Vaibhav Arora took three wickets in the powerplay, after which the spinners assumed control, with Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine combining for figures of 8-0-40-4. Despite being reduced to 111 for 8 at one stage, Capitals set KKR a 150-plus target thanks to an unlikely, unbeaten 26-ball 35 from Kuldeep Yadav.

With Kuldeep and Axar Patel in their attack, DC had the tools to create a bit of pressure on this pitch. KKR was well on their way to victory before either spinner had bowled a ball. Phil Salt achieved his fourth fifty in five home games this season, demonstrating his dominance in a powerplay in which KKR achieved 79 runs without loss.

Axar Patel removed both KKR openers when he came on, but this was insufficient for DC, as Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer proceeded to achieve an unbroken 57 runs off 43 balls, resulting in the match's conclusion with 21 balls remaining.

KKR now has 12 points from nine games, with a net run rate of 1.096, the best of any team in the competition.