IPL 2026: DC vs KKR Highlights, Match 51 - Stats, Player of the Match & More

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered their fourth successive win in the Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026), beating Delhi Capitals (DC) by eight wickets in Match 51 on Friday, May 8 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. After being put in to bat first, Delhi were restricted to a low score of 142/8 in their allotted 20 overs as Kartik Tyagi and Anukul Roy (2/31) scalped two wickets each.

In reply, KKR chased down the target in just 14.2 overs, riding on a splendid hundred from Finn Allen. Following their win, KKR rose to seventh spot in the IPL 2026 points table with nine points from ten games. On the other hand, DC slipped to eighth position with eight points from 11 matches.

Top run-scorer of the Match

Top wicket-taker of the Match

Player of the Match

Finn Allen was adjudged Player of the Match for his breathtaking century. He played a scintillating innings of 100* (47), studded with five fours and ten sixes. He stitched a massive 116-run stand off 64 balls for the third wicket with Cameron Green to take KKR over the line.

Turning Point

DC were going well in the first innings, being 80/2 in 9.4 overs. However, they ended up losing Sameer Rizvi, Pathum Nissanka (50 off 29) and Tristan Stubbs (2 off 4) within a space of seven balls. The hosts couldn’t really recover from the collapse and were eventually restricted for a low score.

What did the captains say:

Winning Captain, Ajinkya Rahane (Kolkata Knight Riders):

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.

Losing Captain, Axar Patel (Delhi Capitals):

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.