Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 51st Match, Indian Premier League 2026 - CommentaryDC vs KKR, 51st Match, Indian Premier League 2026 - Commentary

Four wins in a row for KKR after a horrific start to their campaign. After two tight wins, courtesy of Rinku Singh's heroics, they've now put together two clinical run-chases. DC, on the other hand, have lost five of their last six games and their batting has been below-par in the last two outings. The two teams have swapped positions on the points table, KKR move up to 7th and DC climb down to 8th. That's it from this encounter. See you tomorrow for Rajasthan Royals vs Gujarat Titans. Until then, it's goodbye from Abhinand Raghavendran, Nikhil Jadhav, Josh Praveen and Kiran Nataraj.

Finn Allen | Player of the Match: (This is almost Finn Allen 2.0?) Oh, I think, you know, what I've been working on is trying to have more strings to my bow. We obviously lost a couple of early wickets, so I just tried to have a bit of responsibility and get a win on the board for the boys. (Shifting gears?) I mean, like I said, I just tried to knuckle down early. It was still a little bit challenging at the start, Axar bowled really well and restricted us. So like I said, just try to get in strong positions and bat deep. (About his six hitting) I think that's the model I've been trying to do with my batting, I guess. If it's not easy, stay in there, working with Watto (Watson) and Abhishek (Nayar) as well. You know, just trying to give myself a chance. I feel like I've got a few starts and it's been pretty frustrating, but here nice to, I guess, have a little bit of personal success. (How difficult is it to sort of pace your innings the way you did today?) I think when the situation comes to it, you just forget about my batting and play the situation. I think I knew if I stayed out there for a long period of time, I always come back to trying to bat 40 balls. It doesn't happen too often, but that was just what was keeping me ticking today and trying to take a deep. (How does a player like you react to being out of the side and then coming back?) Oh look, I think sometimes it changes your perspective, right? You go out of the team, have a bit of time for a mental refresh. To be honest, I was just putting too much pressure on myself at the start. So it was nice to have that, sit back, refresh and come back in.

Ajinkya Rahane: First of all, let me just say I'm really happy for Finn Allen. He was struggling first four or five games, working really hard, but the way he batted tonight was fantastic. But I want to praise our bowlers again. We did well because of them. And they've been doing it so well consistently, especially those middle overs and the death overs. Our spinners, Sunil Narine, Varun and Anukul Roy, has been fantastic. Fielding-wise, yes, we are working really hard. Our fielding coach has been really strict with us. And that's what has been helping us. The result which you've been seeing about the catches and the ground fielding, credit goes to our fielding coach as well. (Conversation with Narine) I think just leave him alone. As a captain, I'm so lucky to have Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy in our side. You don't have to tell them too much. He's learning every day, even the practice session, he's there, attentive, trying to learn something or the other from other players as well. Sharing his experience with everyone. That's what helped me also on the field, sharing his experience. So, I'm really happy that whenever I tell him, Sunny, if you have to bowl, come and bowl. He's always ready for that. It's all about staying in the moment, what we discuss in the dugout and the dressing room. It's always about being in the moment. We've been playing very good cricket in the first five games. Those crucial moments in this format is really important. If you're attentive, if you're proactive, and then being in the moment, that's what helped us. But I want to give credit to our bowling coaches, Tim Southee and Dwayne Bravo. They've been working really hard with our bowlers. It's been fantastic. I'm really happy for Anukul Roy, who had a fantastic domestic season. Kartik Tyagi has been really good, very clear in his mindset, very confident guy. These two guys have been really good. But overall, as a bowling unit, we are doing really well. (On Varun) He's fine. As long as Varun is bowling, he's happy. When he's fielding, he just wants to go inside. But he's fine. He's absolutely fine. One game at a time.

Finn Allen today
vs pace: 27(16) | SR 168.75 | 4s/6s 2/2
vs spin: 73(31) | SR 235.48 | 4s/6s 3/8
73 runs is the joint third most in an innings against spin for a batter in IPL and in terms of percentage wise it the highest such share among all 100s in IPL.

Most 6s by a KKR batter in an IPL innings
13 Brendon McCullum vs RCB Bengaluru 2008
11 Andre Russell vs CSK Chennai 2018
10 Finn Allen vs DC Delhi 2026

Hundreds for KKR in IPL
158*(73) Brendon McCullum vs RCB Bengaluru 2008
104(51) Venkatesh Iyer vs MI Wankhede 2023
109(56) Sunil Narine vs RR Kolkata 2024
100*(47) Finn Allen vs DC Delhi 2026
Delhi Capitals conceded just six individual 100s in the 18 years bw 2008 and 2025; this season alone they have conceded three.

Finn Allen in 2026 is the first New Zealand batter to score three T20 hundreds in a calendar year.
101(53) for Perth Scorchers in BBL
100*(33) for New Zealand in T20 World Cup
100*(47) for KKR in IPL
Finn Allen is the second New Zealand batter to register a hundred in IPL following Brendon McCullum who hit two (one each for KKR & CSK).

Most consecutive defeats for DC in Delhi
Nine defeats bw 2013-15
Five defeats in 2026 *
Four defeats bw 2010-11
Four defeats bw 2012-13

Cameron Green: (On Finn Allen's knock) So special. I think you only get the chance to be at the other end a handful of times in your career, so that's one of them. (Chat with Allen) Nothing really. I think, Finn, all he said was, 'see you next over.' So, yeah, that's basically what I tried to do. I was just the other end playing second fiddle. (On giving Allen the strike when he was on 94) I think I did the math when we had 29 to get. So yeah, I knew I'd be the most hated man in Kolkata if I did anything else apart from that. (On doing the calculation) No, not us. I was, I did the math. But no, Finn's very good at maths as well, so I'll give him credit for that. So, probably, he was probably doing the same. Winning, that's been the most satisfying. But I think our bowlers have been great all comp. Our spin bowling in particular, they've been exceptional. So I think the fast bowlers around them have just played their part. And obviously, Sunny (Sunil Narine) and Varun have been awesome. And Anu (Anukul) has been chipping in as well. No, you definitely don't look that far ahead (to the playoffs). I think we still have to win every game from here. So, yeah, we won't be looking that far ahead.

Axar Patel: I think the runs were definitely below par and at the same time the spinners made quite a few mistakes. Looking at the way the pitch behaved, I feel the spinners did make errors. But at the same time, if you notice, we lost five wickets in two-three overs, and I think that’s where the momentum slipped away from us. That’s probably something we need to think about because the same thing happened against CSK, we started well, and then suddenly wickets kept falling. (So how do you solve that now?) See, you can’t solve it in a complicated way. While Ashutosh and I were batting, we were thinking that if we made a mistake there, it would become very difficult for the next batter coming in. So I think it’s more about applying the right mindset. Even if you lose one or two wickets, you can still spend time at the crease and play through it. I think that’s what needs to be applied, when wickets are falling in clusters, you need to absorb the pressure for an over or two. (How will you prepare for the remaining matches now?) For now we’ll go back and think about the mistakes we made. After that, obviously there’s still a long journey ahead and next year will come too. So we’ll think about what plans we can make for next year and what approach we should take. Based on that, we can also look at the players sitting on the bench and decide who can be given opportunities and what changes we can make.

22:32 Local Time, 17:02 GMT: A thumping win for Kolkata Knight Riders. After opting to bowl, they conceded 55 runs in the powerplay and took only one wicket, but they pulled things back beautifully after that. The three spinners finished with combined figures of 3/76 off 12 overs. Kartik Tyagi was once again impressive as they restricted the hosts to 142. In reply, KKR lost a couple of wickets in the powerplay. Unlike their opponents, DC couldn't apply pressure after the powerplay. The two overseas batters - Finn Allen and Cameron Green - joined hands at 31/2. Allen lasted through the powerplay for the first time this season and he was on 20 off 17 at that stage. After the powerplay, he switched gears, especially against the spinners. He recorded his maiden IPL fifty off 32 deliveries and then kept going to convert it into a century. 10 sixes, five fours and he scored more than 70% of the runs in the unbroken century partnership as KKR romped home with 34 balls to spare.

2 needed and Finn Allen needs a six to get to a century

Just 3 needed for KKR now