Kolkata April 28 (IANS) Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile picked up three wickets to blunt Sanju Samson s half century and restrict Delhi Daredevils to 160/6 in 20 overs in an Indian Premier League game at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
Australian Coulter-Nile coming back into the side after a one-match break returned best figures of (3/34) in his four overs picking up the wickets of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant at crucial junctures to halt Delhi s surge.
Samson (60; 38b 4x4 3x6) top-scored with his second fifty of the IPL season while Iyer (47; 34b 4x4 1x6) played a good hand too.
Ankit Bawne -- playing in place of Aditya Tare -- was not out on 12 while Pat Cummins did not face a ball when their innings ended.
Delhi openers Karun Nair (15; 17b 3x4 0x6) and Samson started well with the former playing the aggressor s role in the first few overs welcoming Chris Woakes with two consecutive boundaries in his first two deliveries of the match.
The pair stitched together a 48-run stand before Narine removed Nair who missed a sweep with the ball striking his back leg for a plumb leg before wicket decision.
The hosts suffered a blow when in-form wicketkeeper batsman Robin Uthappa picked up a knock and had to leave the field with Sheldon Jackson -- playing in place of Piyush Chawla -- taking over the gloves in the 10th over.
Iyer and Samson did not hit a boundary for 46 balls before the latter brought up his fifty with a six off Kuldeep Yadav over the square leg boundary.
The duo engineered a 75-run partnership for the second wicket before Samson tried to play across the line and was plumb in front off the bowling of Umesh Yadav (1/38).
Iyer at the other end took time to settle down before finally looking to accelerate by hitting Umesh for two back-to-back fours. Yusuf Pathan made a hash of the first one failing to stop the innocuous ball.
Rishabh Pant (6) did not last long adjudged LBW unluckily when the ball was going down leg off Coulter-Nile s delivery. In the same over Iyer was sent back just three short of his half century by the Australian.
Corey Anderson (2; 5b; 0x4 0x6) was dropped twice by Kuldeep in the 17th over before the New Zealand all-rounder was run out.
Brief scores: Delhi Daredevils 160/6 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 60 Shreyas Iyer 47; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3/34 Sunil Narine 1/25)
--IANS
dm/pur/bg
Coulter-Nile s 3/34 restricts Delhi to 160/6 against KKR
