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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) faced each other on Sunday (May 24) in the last league stage match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. In this match played at Eden Gardens Stadium, Kolkata, DC defeated KKR by 40 runs. When invited to bat first, DC scored 203 runs at the loss of 5 wickets, in response to which KKR was limited to 163.

DC finished the season with their third consecutive win. The race for the playoffs was already out. They finished in sixth place with 14 points from 14 matches. On the other hand, before the start of the match, KKR was in the race for the playoffs but it was also eliminated after Rajasthan Royals won against Mumbai Indians. In such a situation, there was nothing left for KKR in this match. Although she could have reached fifth place by winning by a big margin but that could not happen. KKR remained at seventh position with 13 points.

KL Rahul’s roaring bat

After losing the toss and opting to bat first, DC got a steady start from KL Rahul and Abhishek Porel. There was an opening partnership of 40 runs between the two in 4.3 overs. Porel was out after scoring 20 runs in 18 balls. After this, Sahil Parakh, who came to the crease, scored 24 runs in 17 balls. Rahul laid the foundation of a big score by batting aggressively from one end. He scored 60 runs in 30 balls with the help of 5 fours and 4 sixes. Captain Axar Patel (39 in 25 balls), David Miller (28 in 19 balls) and Ashutosh Sharma (18 not out in 11 balls) made useful contributions to take DC beyond 200. For KKR, Saurabh Dubey took 2 wickets for 28 runs in 4 overs.

Kuldeep-Ngidi wreaked havoc

Lungi Ngidi shocked KKR’s top order while chasing a big target. He dismissed the dangerous Finn Allen (2) early and then took the wicket of Manish Pandey (25) taking KKR’s score to 87/2. After this, Kuldeep Yadav wreaked havoc and broke the back of KKR by taking the wickets of Cameron Green (2), Ajinkya Rahane (60) and Rinku Singh (0). Kuldeep continuously bowled Rahane and Rinku. He also almost dismissed new batsman Tejashwi Dahiya on the hat-trick ball but wicketkeeper Porel dropped the catch. In the next over, Akshar clean bowled Dahiya (1). Mitchell Starc and Ngidi dealt with KKR’s lower order batsmen quickly and gave DC a big win. Kuldeep and Ngidi took 3-3 wickets. Starc got 2, while Akshar got one success.