Spinners, Allen’s ton lead KKR to eight-wicket win over Delhi

Kolkata Knight Riders’ spin trio strangled Delhi Capitals batters into submission before Finn Allen finished the job with a breathtaking unbeaten century off just 47 balls and powered the three-time champions to a huge eight-wicket victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Friday.

Allen’s superb knock, laced with five fours and ten sixes, ensured KKR completed a chase of 143 with 35 balls to spare and helped the three-time champions seal their fourth consecutive win of the season.

He was ably supported by Cameron Green, who hit 33 not out off 27 balls, as the duo shared an unbroken 116-run stand off 64 balls.

Where KKR’s spinners — Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy — with combined figures of 3-76 in 12 overs, ensured DC batting imploded yet again and ended up on 142/8, Allen ensured no such misery awaited his side by launching a ferocious assault on DC’s bowling attack that rendered the target an afterthought.

With this win, Kolkata swapped places with Delhi on the points table, climbing to seventh and keeping their playoff hopes alive.

Such was the effect of the slowdown from KKR spinners that from overs 11-16, DC scored just 20 runs for the loss of two wickets, and as per CricViz, this is the lowest number of runs scored in this particular phase of the innings in any game in IPL 2026. It took Ashutosh Sharma’s late 28-ball 39 to take DC past 140, but the batting issues continued to haunt the hosts, with Kartik Tyagi being excellent in the back end to pick 2-25.

Electing to bowl first, KKR had to bide their time to get their first breakthrough as Nissanka wasted little time in punishing anything loose with authority, while KL Rahul looked equally assured at the other end, as the duo collectively hit eight boundaries in 4.5 overs.

KKR finally got their first breakthrough when Rahul mistimed a slog off Tyagi and was caught by mid-on. After DC ended power-play at 55/1, Nissanka continued to effortlessly hit boundaries with precision and got his fifty in 29 balls. But from the other end, KKR continued to land punches - Nitish Rana, who once played for them, was undone by a well-disguised short ball from Cameron Green and gloved to short fine leg.

After Sameer Rizvi slog-swept to deep mid-wicket off Sunil Narine, Nissanka was stumped on the very next delivery after getting his fifty - a wide from Roy lured him down the pitch and Angkrish Raghuvanshi whipped the bails in a flash. Two balls later, Roy castled Tristan Stubbs through the gate to reduce DC to 89/5 in 10.5 overs.

The middle-over squeeze was suffocating. Between overs 7-14, Delhi managed just 45 runs and lost four wickets — the lowest middle-overs aggregate in this season. Axar Patel and Ashutosh found getting boundaries almost impossible to come by against Narine and Chakaravarthy, who didn’t give any room for it.

Just as KKR appeared to be cruising to a formality, Chakaravarthy’s final over proved costly. Ashutosh launched him for a six into the sightscreen before cutting two fours in succession and looting 16 runs from the 17th over.

Ashutosh’s counterattack at least gave DC’s total some semblance of respectability, even as Axar’s lean run continued by pulling to mid-wicket off Vaibhav Arora. But Tyagi responded with a superb final over, claiming Ashutosh and seeing Mitchell Starc run out in the span of just three runs to keep DC below 150.

KKR began positively from the first ball, as Allen drove and whipped Mitchell Starc for boundaries. Though DC briefly halted KKR’s charge – captain Ajinkya Rahane’s stay ended with a freak run-out at the non-striker’s end as Starc’s outstretched hand touched the ball before rolling onto the stumps, while Angkrish Raghuvanshi attempted a sweep off Axar, but the ball rolled off his gloves to hit the stumps - Allen had other plans entirely.

Once Green arrived to steady the innings, Allen simply refused to be contained – cutting, sweeping and thumping with authority to bring up his fifty off 32 balls via a scoop off Starc over fine leg – which was both effortless and imperious.

The middle overs belonged emphatically to KKR, as Kuldeep Yadav was dispatched repeatedly. Allen pulled him over deep mid-wicket and then thumped him straight down the ground, while Green launched a monstrous six off the same bowler over deep mid-wicket. Vipraj Nigam bore the heaviest punishment as Allen smashed three consecutive sixes off the leg-spinner in the 13th over - twice over long-off and once with a ferocious pull through deep mid-wicket - before moving into the 90s with another towering maximum off Kuldeep.

Agencies