Kolkata: There was no stopping the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) juggernaut as Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa tore apart Delhi Daredevils' bowling to script a seven-wicket win in an Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the Eden Gardens here on Friday.
Gambhir remained unbeaten on 71 off 52 deliveries, his fourth IPL fifty, joining hands with Uthappa (59; 33b, 5x4, 4x6) for a match-winning 108-run stand for the second wicket to script the two-time champions' fourth successive victory and inch closer to a play-off berth. Delhi, on the other hand, were condemned to their fourth loss on the trot and are languishing at the bottom with four points from seven games.
Kagiso Rabada (2/20), who was the pick of the Delhi bowlers, bowled a wide ball to hand the rivals the win which helps them consolidate their position at the top of the table with 14 points from nine outings.
Rabada castled opener Sunil Narine for just four, but the in-form pair of Gambhir and Uthappa started from where it had left off in the last game against Rising Pune Supergiant taking the Delhi bowlers to the cleaners.
Uthappa made the most of some comical fielding in the sixth over, when a leading edge off the in-form batsman's willow saw Sanju Samson and Amit Mishra converge in the region between short fine leg and square leg with none of them getting under the ball eventually. The Karnataka batsman was on nine at that time.
Uthappa was at his lethal best yet again, notching up the fifty off just 24 balls smashing five fours and three sixes. He was finally run out, but the damage had already been done.
Gambhir at the other end, stood like a wall as Manish Pandey was done in by a Rabada beauty, getting clean-bowled for just five.
Delhi captain Zaheer Khan picked up a hamstring injury after bowing the first ball of his second over which was completed by Corey Anderson.
Earlier, Coulter-Nile picked up three wickets to blunt Sanju's half-century and restrict Delhi to 160/6 in 20 overs.
Australian Coulter-Nile, coming back into the side after a one-match break, returned 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.
Sanju (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.
Delhi openers Karun Nair (15) and Sanju started well with the former playing the aggressor's role in the first few overs, welcoming Chris Woakes with two consecutive boundaries off his first two deliveries of the match.
The pair stitched together a 48-run stand before Narine removed Karun, 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 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 Sanju 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 Sanju 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.
Pant (6) did not last long, adjudged lbw rather unluckily as the ball was going down leg. In the same over, Iyer was sent back just three short of his half-century by Coulter-Nile.
Corey Anderson (2) was dropped twice by Kuldeep in the 17th over before the New Zealand all-rounder was run out.