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Allen strikes magnificent ton to power KKR to smashing win over Delhi

cricket08 May 2026 17:41| © MWP
By:Patrick Compton
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Kiwi impact sub Finn Allen struck a magnificent unbeaten century to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders to a smashing eight-wicket win over the Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delphi on Friday night.

It was KKR’s fourth consecutive win after picking up just one point in their first six games – and that single point only because of a rained-out match.

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Delhi, by contrast, are sinking ever lower in the table with just eight points. They have won just two games at home out of 10 since last year and have never won after batting first.

Facing a modest target of just 143 for victory, KKR were unlucky to lose both their wickets in the power play, with Ajinkya Rahane being run out after Mitchell Starc touched a return drive onto the stumps with Rahane out of his ground, while Angkrish Raghuvanshi was bowled off his pads after losing sight of the ball that looped into the air.

But, from 31-2 in the fourth over, Allen and Cameron Green made light of their task from there on, adding 116 in 64 balls to take their team to victory in just 14.2 overs.

Allen’s 100, which came off the last ball of the match, came in 47 balls and included five fours and a whopping 10 sixes.

It was the first time the Black Cap had batted through the power play in the IPL and his approach was much improved on previous form with clinical shot selection and immense power when bowlers pitched too short or too full.

Green made the perfect partner for him, striking 33 in 27 balls with two sixes.

Aside from their superior batting, KKR’s ascendency made itself felt in the quality of their bowling after Pathum Nissanka and KL Rahul added 49 in five overs to give Delhi a brisk start after KKR won the toss and inserted their opponents.

But Rahul’s dismissal for 23 put a halt to their progress, and Nissanka’s stumping after he had struck 50 off left-arm spinner Anukul Roy effectively stopped any momentum.

The middle overs were dominated by spinners Sunil Narine (1-17 in four), Roy (2-31 in four) and Varun Chakravarthy (0-28) who bowled half his overs with an injured knee.

His final over went for 16, with Ashutosh Sharma offering a belated attack that resulted in 39 off 28 balls (3x4s, 3x6s) that proved too little, too late.

An example of Delhi’s difficulties was the innings of skipper Axar Patel whose boundary-free 11 took 22 balls.

At one stage Delhi went six overs without striking a boundary as the spinners dominated, with help from pacemen Vaibhav Arora (1-29) and Kartik Tyagi (2-25).

DELHI CAPITALS: KL Rahul (wk), Pathum Nissanka, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Nitish Rana, Axar Patel (capt), Ashutosh Sharma, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Starc, Vipraj Nigam, Mukesh Kumar

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy

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