IPL: KKR cruise to win over Delhi Daredevils

IPL scores (Eden Gardens)

Delhi Daredevils (20/20) 160-6 (Samson 60, Iyer 47; Coulter-Nile 3-34)

Kolkata Knight Riders (16.2/20) 161-3 (Gambhir 71, Uthappa 59; Rabada 2-20)

Kolkata Knight Riders won by seven wickets

Match report

Kolkata Knight Riders stay top of the IPL table after a comfortable seven-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils, who themselves stay rooted to the bottom.

Chasing 161 to win, Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir (pictured) hit an unbeaten 71 off 59 deliveries to see his side to victory with 22 balls to spare.

Robin Uthappa (59 off 33) also continued his fine form following his 87 in Kolkata's latest win over Rising Pune Supergiant, though he should have been out on nine but for some shocking fielding - Sanju Samson and Amit Mishra failing to go for a catch, leaving it to each other.

Earlier, Nathan Coulter-Nile took 3-34 for the Knight Riders to help restrict Delhi following an explosive start that had seen them fire 41 without loss from the opening four overs.

Put into bat by their hosts at Eden Gardens, Sanju Samson (60 off 38) struck the opening six of the game in the second over, while he and Karun Nair (15 off 17) each hit back-to-back boundaries in the following overs.

But Nair's wicket - lbw to Sunil Narine (1-25) - in the next, stemmed the flow of runs, with Delhi unable to find the boundary till Samson blasted a second six to start the 12th.

Shreyas Iyer (47 off 34) offered some solid support - striking 14 of the 15 runs conceded in Colin de Grandhomme's next - as the Daredevils threatened to launch.

But once again, the fall of a wicket - Samson out lbw to Umesh Yadav (1-38) - undid the Delhi innings, with only 37 runs coming from the final six overs as Coulter-Nile ran through the middle-order.

In reply, Kolkata's pinch-hitting ploy with Narine at the top of the order for once didn't come off, with the West Indian spinner bowled by Kagiso Rabada (2-20) for four in the second over.

But that only brought Uthappa and Gambhir together at the crease, with the pair sharing in their second successive century stand in IPL 10.

Uthappa reached his half-century off 24 balls, while Gambhir took slightly longer, his 39-ball fifty coming up shortly after his partner was run out in the 13th over.

Rabada came back to claim one more victim, splattering Manish Pandey's stumps with a full and fast yorker, but Gambhir comfortably saw his side home to the win.