Akshar Patel expected this batsman the most, disappointed after defeat

New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated Delhi Capitals (DC) by 14 runs in the thrilling match of IPL 2025 to keep their expectations alive in the playoff race. KKR bowlers Sunil Naren and Varun Chakraborty jointly took five wickets in this match played at Arun Jaitley Stadium and played a key role in the team's victory. Especially the two bowlers took two wickets in their last over and shocked Delhi's expectations. After losing Toss, KKR scored a challenging score of 204/9 while batting first. The team's batsmen made small but useful contributions at a fast pace. Angkrish Raghuvanshi played 44 and Rinku Singh played a fast innings of 36 runs. For Delhi, Mitchell Starc took 3 wickets, while Akshar Patel took 2 wickets. Delhi's team could score 190/9 runs in 20 overs and this was their third defeat on this ground. For KKR, this victory was very important in terms of being in the playoff race. What did Delhi captain Akshar Patel say after the match? Let us tell you.

What did Akshar Patel say after the match?

After the match, Delhi Capitals captain Akshar Patel said, 'I think we gave 15-20 runs in the powerplay. We also lost some wickets easily. The good thing is that after the powerplay we stopped them from scoring runs. Talking about batting, even though some batsmen did not go, 2 of us contributed and took the match very close. When Vipraj was batting, it was expected, if Ashutosh had been there, he could have done the first match. To stop the ball, my skin was peeled by diving on the practice wicket, but the good thing is that there is a 3-4-day break and hopefully I will recover.

What will Delhi do to reach the playoff?

Now 4 matches of this season group stage of Delhi are left. They have to win at least 2 out of 4 matches to reach 16 points from here. If the DC fails to do so and wins only the only match, then the matter may get stuck at the net run rate. Delhi will have to keep in mind that if they reach only 14 points, then they will have to keep a better net run rate from all the teams which will have 14 points. Along with 14 points, teams have made it to the IPL playoffs.
(With IANS's input)