NEW DELHI: Delhi Capitals beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 4 wickets for their first win of the season on Thursday and Director of Cricket Sourav Ganguly likened it to scoring his first Test runs for India.
An impressive show by their bowlers followed by skipper David Warner's vital fifty guided Delhi to victory against Kolkata, but Ganguly said his boys will have to look at themselves as to how they can do better in batting.
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DC bowled out KKR for a paltry 127 in 20 overs on the back of good bowling by Axar Patel (2/13), Kuldeep Yadav (2/15) Ishant Sharma (2/19) and Anrich Nortje (2/20).
In reply, Warner gave DC a brilliant start, and then KKR spinners turned the tables in the middle overs but eventually the hosts sealed the win with three balls to spare to open their account.
"I was thinking it was like my first Test: happy to get off the mark! We have bowled well this season," Ganguly said after their four-wicket win with four balls to spare.
However, he was not entirely happy with their batting display as Delhi Capitals made it too close for comfort in the end.
"These are good pitches and fast outfields, but the problem is the batting. We need to go back and look at ourselves as to how we can do better. Nortje has been outstanding. Good to see Ishant (Sharma) and Mukesh (Kumar). I wouldn't say it is an inexperienced line-up... Many of them have been around for a long time. They also know it's time to put up a better batting performance," Ganguly told the official broadcaster after the match.
Delhi Capitals skipper David Warner too was happy to win their first match in IPL 2023 and get off the mark.
1/10:IPL: After five defeats, Delhi finally win
PTI
2/10:High Fives
<p>Delhi Capitals edged Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets in a low-scoring match on Thursday for their first victory this season (BCCI/IPL Photo)<br /></p>IANS
3/10:Old War Horse
<p>Ishant Sharma, playing his first IPL match since 2021, returned figures of 2/19 to help DC bowl out KKR for 127 (BCCI/IPL Photo)<br /></p>ANI
4/10:Captain's Knock
<p>DC made tough work of their modest chase & despite David Warner's 4th half-century of the season (57) achieved their target with only 4 balls to spare in the rain-hit match (BCCI/IPL Photo)<br /></p>PTI
5/10:Work To Do
<p>However, despite the victory, Delhi remain at the bottom of the 10-team points table with just one win in six matches (BCCI/IPL Photo)<br /></p>PTI
6/10:Long Walk Back
<p>Warner started strongly but Delhi lost Prithvi Shaw, Mitchell Marsh and Phil Salt at the other end in quick succession (BCCI/IPL Photo)<br /></p>IANS
7/10:Job Done
<p>Delhi lost Warner, lbw to Varun Chakravarthy, to be 93/4, followed by Manish Pandey (21). But Axar Patel (19*) and Lalit Yadav (4*) stayed calm to steer DC home - BCCI/IPL Photo<br /><br /></p>IANS
8/10:First Strike
<p>Earlier, the match started an hour late due to evening rains in Delhi and after opting to field first, DC struck early with the wicket of Liton Das (BCCI/IPL Photo)<br /></p>AFP
9/10:In Form
<p>England opener Jason Roy hit a valiant 43 in his first outing this season for KKR (BCCI/IPL Photo)<br /></p>IANS
10/10:Standing Tall
<p>Ishant stood out for DC with key wickets of Nitish Rana (4) and Sunil Narine (4) - BCCI/IPL Photo<br /></p>AFP"Great to get the two points. It's awesome; we are really proud of the bowling unit. We asked for wickets in the Power-play, and they did that. Again we lost wickets in a cluster. We can have those upfront conversations. We played an okay game," Warner said after the match.
Veteran pacer Ishant Sharma, who claimed 2-19 off his four overs early in the innings and was named Player of the Match for his effort, said he was waiting for the chance to play his first match in IPL 2023.
"I was just waiting for my chance. That's all I was thinking. Every single day the areas [of bowling] change... we talk about the plans. There's no lucky charm in the team. We want to win every single game from here," he said at the post-match presentation.
(With agencies inputs)
