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David Warner has scored a quickfire 42 to blast Delhi Capitals on their way to a four-wicket IPL win but fellow Aussie opener Aaron Finch failed for Kolkata.
David Warner's quickfire knock has helped power Delhi Capitals to their latest IPL win - and he outduelled his old Australian mate in the process.
Aaron Finch, Warner's counterpart at the Kolkata Knight Riders, lasted just seven balls as he was dismissed for three in his third IPL match of the campaign at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
In reply, with the Capitals chasing Kolkata's 9-146, Warner conclusively won the battle of the 35-year-old openers as he cracked a 28-ball 42 which gave his new franchise the impetus to go on and win by four wickets.
As well as Warner, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman set up Delhi's victory against a Kolkata side which, surprisingly, hadn't included Australia's Test captain Pat Cummins.
Chetan Sakariya chipped in to hasten Kolkata's early collapse, clean bowling Australia's white-ball skipper Finch in just the second over.
In his three knocks so far in this IPL, Finch has scored one half-century against the Rajasthan Royals, sandwiched by two failures.
Kuldeep went on to demolish their top order with 4-14, and Bangladesh's left-armer Mustafizur picked up three wickets in the final over to restrict Kolkata further.
Delhi then overcame a middle-order collapse against fast bowler Umesh Yadav (3-24) as Rovman Powell's unbeaten 33 off 16 balls carried his team to 6-150 with an over to spare and handed Kolkata their fifth straight loss.
Warner had kicked off Delhi's response in impressive fashion, cracking eight boundaries in his 42 to continue what's been a fruitful IPL campaign, featuring three half-centuries.
At the other end, Umesh provided Kolkata with the perfect start when he had Prithvi Shaw caught and bowled first ball.
That brought in Warner's Aussie colleague Mitch Marsh, back after his absence with a COVID infection, who struck a couple of boundaries in his seven-ball 13 before holing out at backward-square off Harshit Rana.
Umesh later removed both Warner and captain Rishabh Pant (two) in his return spell as Delhi slipped to 5-84 in the 12th over.
Axar Patel hit 24 off 17 before getting run out needlessly, but Powell smashed three sixes and a boundary in his unbeaten knock to guide them home.
There was some surprise that Cummins was not in the Knight Riders' team, although captain Shreyas Iyer hinted that he may have had a physical "niggle".
With AP
