What a game this is for Finn Allen! He not only takes KKR home comfortably in the chase but also races to his first IPL century on the final delivery. Allen ends on 100 not out off 47 balls — an innings laced with five fours and 10 massive sixes.

KKR win the game by eight wickets to register their fourth consecutive victory. After an extremely poor start to the season, they somehow finds themselves in serious contention for the playoffs. Cricket, you beauty!

Finn Allen continues the carnage. He smashed Kuldeep Yadav for two big sixes in the over and moved to 94 off 46. KKR need only three runs to register their fourth consecutive win, while Allen needs a six to smash a hundred.

KKR 140-2 (14)

Finn Allen went berserk in this over. He showed off his hitting skills and smashed spinner Vipraj Nigam for three consecutive sixes. 21 runs came off the over. Kolkata Knight Riders need 18 runs in 42 balls.

KKR 125-2 (13)

Finn Allen and Cameron Green are now having fun out there in the middle. Allen smashed Kuldeep Yadav for a six and then gave the strike to Green, who also hit a maximum. 16 runs came off the over. Kolkata Knight Riders need 39 runs in 48 balls.

KKR 104-2 (12)

Here is the first IPL fifty for Finn Allen! The right-handed batter has raced to the milestone in 32 balls. This has been a well-controlled knock from the fiery opener. He gave the bowling-friendly conditions the respect they deserved and then unleashed his shots once he got set. Kolkata Knight Riders are 81/2 in 10.1 overs vs Delhi Capitals (142/8).

Lungi Ngidi bowled a five-run over and Axar Patel followed it with a four-run over. The spinner ended his quota of four with figures of 1 for 27. Kolkata Knight Riders need 68 runs in 60 balls.

KKR 75-2 (10)

Kuldeep Yadav was brought into the attack, and he conceded 11 runs in the over. The spinner was smashed for a six and a four by Finn Allen before the batter had a tough catch dropped at long-on. Kolkata Knight Riders need 76 runs in 73 balls.

KKR 67-2 (8)

This is really good batting from Finn Allen. He played the powerplay quite carefully and unleashed against Vipraj Nigam in this over. The batter smashed the spinner for a four and a six. Thirteen runs came off the over.

KKR 56-2 (7)

Kolkata Knight Riders scored 43 in the powerplay but also lost two wickets. They need 100 runs in 84 balls. This match hangs in the balance. The pitch is still a tough one to bat on. If the Delhi Capitals bowlers continue to bowl with discipline, they could keep KKR in check.

KKR 43-2 (6)

3.4 – Angkrish Raghuvanshi is OUT! He has played the ball onto his stumps. The right-handed batter tried to play a sweep shot but failed to connect. The ball hit his arm and rolled onto the timber. KKR are two down.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi b Axar Patel 1(3)

Ajinkya Rahane has been run out! Finn Allen smashed the Mitchell Starc delivery down the ground, and the pacer got a hand to it before the ball crashed into the stump. This is such an unlucky dismissal for Rahane.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi b Axar Patel 1(3)

KKR 29-1 (3)

Axar Patel came into the attack to bowl the second over, but he conceded 11 runs in it. Finn Allen hit a four through mid-wicket, while Ajinkya Rahane too smashed a four through the covers.

KKR 17-0 (2)

Kolkata Knight Riders have started their chase of 143 runs against Delhi Capitals. Mitchell Starc bowled the first over and conceded six runs. Timing the ball remains difficult for the batters on this pitch, but Allen still managed to smash a four past mid-off.

KKR 6-0 (1)

Kartik Tyagi concedes only three runs in his final over. He ends with impressive figures of 2 for 25. The pacer turns out to be the best bowler for KKR in the innings. Delhi Capitals have set a target of 143 for Kolkata Knight Riders.

DC 142-8 (20)

Anukul Roy has taken a brilliant catch in the deep! Axar Patel departs. He connected the Vaibhav Arora delivery quite well, but failed to beat Anukul’s brilliance. The fielder ran to his left from deep mid-wicket and took a superb catch.

Axar Patel c Anukul Roy b Vaibhav Arora 11(22)

DC 128-6 (18.3)

Varun Chakravarthy bowled his final over as well despite struggling with his injury, and Ashutosh Sharma made the most of it. He smashed the spinner for two fours and one six. Delhi Capitals got 16 runs off the over.

DC 116-5 (17)

Sunil Narine was a bit unlucky not to get the wicket of Ashutosh Sharma in his final over. The ball struck the batter on the leg, but the umpire gave it not out. While KKR did not review it, ball-tracking showed that the delivery would have clipped the leg stump.

DC 100-5 (16)

Kartik Tyagi was brought back into the attack, and he conceded only two runs in his second over. This pitch has become really slow and tough to bat on due to its variable bounce. Delhi Capitals are struggling to score.

DC 98-5 (15)

Varun Chakravarthy conceded only two runs in his third over. He is having some trouble with his leg. The spinner was hobbling, yet managed to complete the over. Will he return to bowl his final over? Well, that remains a suspense.

DC 96-5 (14)

Anukul Roy concedes only four runs in his final over. He ends his quota of four overs with impressive figures of 2 for 31, despite bowling two overs in the powerplay. His double-wicket over has put KKR right on top.

DC 94-5 (13)

Anukul Roy cleaned up Tristan Stubbs on the fifth delivery! He picked up a total of two wickets in the over while conceding nine runs. Delhi Capitals are completely under pressure. Half of the side is back in the dugout.

DC 89-5 (11)

OUT! Pathum Nissanka is gone right after scoring his fifty. The right-handed batter had jumped out of his crease to smash a four through extra cover. He raced to his fifty with it. Nissanka tried to repeat it and perished in the process. A smart Anukul Roy bowled it away from the batter, and Angkrish Raghuvanshi effected the easy stumping. KKR are on top!

Pathum Nissanka st Angkrish Raghuvanshi b Anukul Roy 50(29) [4s-5 6s-3]

DC 85-4 (10.1)

GONE! It was in the slot from Sunil Narine, but Sameer Rizvi failed to clear the fielder at deep mid-wicket. His scratchy innings ends here. Rizvi is out after scoring three runs off seven balls. Delhi Capitals are three down.

Sameer Rizvi c Rovman Powell b Sunil Narine 3(7)

DC 80-3 (9.5)

Pathum Nissanka is close to his second fifty of the season. He has moved to 45 off 26 balls. Delhi Capitals are two down with a scoring rate of 8.56. They need a good partnership at this point.

DC 77-2 (9)

OUT! Cameron Green has trapped Nitish Rana! He cramped the batter for room with a short delivery, angling into the body, and Rana miscued his pull into the hands of Sunil Narine at short fine leg.

Nitish Rana c Sunil Narine b Cameron Green 8(10) [4s-1]

DC 74-2 (8)

Vaibhav Arora conceded only six runs in the final over of the powerplay and nearly had the wicket of Nitish Rana on the final delivery. The ball fell slightly short of deep backward point. Delhi Capitals would be happy with the start, as this pitch has something for the bowlers. 

DC 55-1 (6)

OUT! KL Rahul departs for 23! It was a length delivery from Kartik Tyagi, and Rahul miscued it high in the air. Cameron Green settled under it at mid-on and took the catch comfortably. KKR are one down.

Rahul c Cameron Green b Kartik Tyagi 23(14) [4s-4]

DC 49-1 (5)

11 runs came off the second over of Anukul Roy. KL Rahul slammed the spinner for a four over mid-on, while Pathum Nissanka smashed a biggie over deep mid-wicket. This is turning out to be a good start for Delhi Capitals.

DC 28-0 (3)

That was a good shot from Nissanka! Vaibhav Arora bowled a short-of-a-length delivery, angling into the batter. Nissanka pulled it over backward square leg for the first maximum of the night. Ten runs came off the over.

DC 17-0 (2)

Pathum Nissanka started the innings with a dot ball. On the very next delivery, the batter smashed spinner Anukul Roy for a four through deep mid-wicket. Seven runs came off the first over.

DC 7-0(1)

Kolkata Knight Riders Impact subs: Ramandeep Singh, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert.

Delhi Capitals Impact subs: Karun Nair, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Abishek Porel, David Miller.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.

Delhi Capitals (Playing XI): Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul(w), Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel(c), Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Lungi Ngidi, Mukesh Kumar.

"Nothing like that for me, batting first or bowling, you know, that is not in our hands. So, as a team, you should be ready whether it's batting first or bowling first. You just have to be on your toes from the very first ball, that is very important. There are two changes in my team - Mukesh Kumar is in place of Natarajan, and Vipraj Nigam is in, said Delhi Capitals skipper Axar Patel.

"As much as I have played on Delhi wickets, I feel there isn't too much spin, but because of a little slowness, you know, the ball comes a bit slower after pitching. So I think spinners get a little help. And as far as seamers are concerned, mostly they use slower bouncers and slower balls more on these wickets. So I thought of using a combination of three spinners and three fast bowlers," he added.

"We're going to bowl first. The last 3-4 games whatever we saw, it's been kind of very different games, 264, 160, the low scoring game against RCB as well, so I thought it's important to see the wicket, see how it's playing and then it becomes easier to bat on. But having said that, no winning the toss, losing the toss, it's all about playing good cricket of 40 overs, said KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane.

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane calls it right and opts to bowl against Delhi Capitals in their IPL 2026 game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. KKR are unchanged for the game, which means Matheesha Pathirana will continue to warm the bench.

For DC, the problems have been way too many. KL Rahul, with his best ever IPL strike rate of 180 plus in an aggregate of 445 runs, has put in an effort. But his his best isn't enough given that the likes of Abhishek Sharma, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi are striking at way above 200.

The team management's insistence on continuing with Pathum Nissanka (228 in nine games) has been baffling. Playing Karun Nair, who has been in horrible touch even in the nets, defied logic. Nitish Rana, despite all his experience, can't seem to play the short ball.

The Indian pacers like Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan and Auqib Nabi Dar have had economy rates of 11, 11.18 and 13.42 respectively.

The only advantage DC will have is that KKR's pain point is also its top order performance. The two main batters at the top, skipper Ajinkya Rahane (205 runs at Strike Rate 131.42) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (268 runs at 137.43) haven't been able to grab the initiative in most of the games. Save Rinku Singh (245 runs at 145.39), who has done the heavy lifting in KKR wins, the other batters have mostly struggled.

Matheesha Pathirana, who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for a massive sum of ₹18 crore ahead of IPL 2026, remains on the sidelines. The player missed the start of the season due to injury but is match-fit now. He is yet to play a game in this edition.

As per PTI, to counter the threat of spin twins Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, DC are likely to opt for a batting belter and will be playing on Pitch No.6, the track on which they scored 264 but failed to defend against Punjab Kings.

The reason for picking such a track is lack of faith in the batting line-up which was reduced to 9 for 6 on a slightly seaming surface against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Delhi Capitals, currently in seventh position with eight points from 10 games, need to win all four of their remaining games to reach 16 points and sneak into the playoffs. The eighth-placed KKR need to win all five of their remaining matches to leapfrog to 17 points in order to remain relevant.

Have a look at the points table:

Delhi Capitals Squad: Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul(w), Nitish Rana, Karun Nair, Axar Patel(c), Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Lungi Ngidi, T Natarajan, Vipraj Nigam, Abishek Porel, Auqib Nabi Dar, David Miller, Dushmantha Chameera, Kyle Jamieson, Rehan Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prithvi Shaw, Tripurana Vijay, Sahil Parakh, Madhav Tiwari.

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rinku Singh, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ramandeep Singh, Tejasvi Dahiya, Navdeep Saini, Tim Seifert, Rachin Ravindra, Blessing Muzarabani, Matheesha Pathirana, Rahul Tripathi, Sarthak Ranjan, Prashant Solanki, Saurabh Dubey, Umran Malik, Daksh Kamra.

Unable to negotiate tricky batting tracks or defend big totals on belters, there seems no comfort even on home turf for Delhi Capitals as they take on Kolkata Knight Riders in a must-win game. It is worth noting that DC have lost their last four home matches.

The race to the IPL 2026 playoffs gets interesting as Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders face each other tonight, with an aim to keep their hopes alive. Hello everyone, welcome to this space. Stay connected for the live updates and live scores of the contest.