Kolkata Knight Riders beat Delhi Capitals by 3 wickets in last over thriller to enter IPL final

SHARJAH: Rahul Tripathi struck a stunning six in the penultimate delivery after opener Venkatesh Iyer’s brilliant half century to help Kolkata Knight Riders beat Delhi Capitals by three wickets in the drama-filled second qualifier and enter the IPL final here on Wednesday.

Two-time champions KKR will face three-time winners Chennai Super Kings in the summit clash in Dubai on Friday.

The 26-year-old Iyer was the star of the day as he struck a 41-ball 55, laced with four boundaries and three sixes.

He shared a 96-run stand for the opening wicket with the talented Shubman Gill (46 off 46 balls) in 12.2 overs to seemingly take the game away from DC’s reach.

But the match took an incredible dramatic turn towards the end when KKR lost five wickets for seven runs, four of them for duck.

KKR were cruising at 123 for 1 in 15.5 overs but from their on they suffered a stunning batting collapse.

Nitish Rana (13) was out in the last ball of the 16th over and he was followed by Gill four balls later.

Still, there was no panic in the KKR camp before Dinesh Kartik’s (0) dismissal in the final ball of the 18th over sent alarm bells.

KKR needed 10 runs from the last two overs but Anrich Nortje removed KKR captain Eoin Morgan (0) with the final ball of the 19th over, leaving KKR seven runs to get from the final over.

Shakib Al Hasan (0) and Sunil Narine (0) were then removed in the third and fourth balls before Tripathi hit a six off Ashwin in the fifth ball to help KKR notch up a stunning win in the end.

This will be KKR’s third final appearance after winning the title in 2012 and 2014.

They had just about managed to sneak into the play-offs at the expense of five-time defending champions Mumbai Indians, thanks to their better net run-rate.

Chasing a target of 136, Iyer and Gill did not show any sign of struggle that the DC batters encountered in the first innings on a sluggish pitch as they scored runs at a relatively brisk pace.