Cummins rips through Indian stars as Kolkata win

Australian paceman Pat Cummins impressed with three wickets and leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy grabbed the season's first five-wicket haul as the Kolkata Knight Riders defeated the Delhi Capitals by 59 runs in the Indian Premier League.

Nitish Rana, whose father-in-law died on Friday, put the personal turmoil aside to score 81 off 53 balls and Sunil Narine (64 from 32 balls) also plundered a half-century in Kolkata's formidable total of 6-194.

Delhi, playing their first day game in this IPL, always lagged behind once Cummins (3-17) removed Ajinkya Rahane with the very first ball of the innings and then Shikhar Dhawan in the second over.

Chakravarthy then went on to snare 5-20 as Delhi were restricted to 9-135.

Having taken just three wickets in 10 matches to start the season, Cummins almost doubled his tally in nine deliveries to start Delhi’s run chase.

He had the struggling Rahane lbw off the first ball and then Dhawan, who scored centuries in his last two games, could make only six before he was clean bowled by the Australian in his second over.

Chakravarthy then hurried the collapse when Rishabh Pant, Shimron Hetmyer, top scorer Shreyas Iyer (47), and Australian Marcus Stoinis all holed out in the deep, while Axar Patel was clean bowled by the leg-spinner.

Scorecard: Kings XI Punjab v Sunrisers Hyderabad

Despite struggling to make an impact in the wickets column early in the tournament, Cummins told cricket.com.au’s The Unplayable Podcast this week he felt an improved return wasn’t far away.

"I feel like my rhythm and the ball is coming out quite nicely – I just haven't got the wickets, which sometimes can happen in this format," Cummins said.

"Some days you bowl well and don't take a wicket and then on others you bowl poorly and take three or four. It's just the nature of the game.

"I feel like I haven't put together a complete game yet. There's always a couple of balls every game that you wish you could have back.

"But each game I feel like I'm getting a little bit better.

"As a whole I've been really happy."

Delhi are still second on the table, level on 14 points with the Mumbai Indians and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have played one game less.

Kolkata are fourth on 12 points, two ahead of Kings XI Punjab, who later on Saturday won their fourth straight match to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Batting first against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kings XI managed 7-126 from their 20 overs, with Australian Glenn Maxwell scoring 12 with the bat.

In reply, David Warner hammered 35 from just 20 balls but his side stumbled and were bowled out for just 114 to leave them two wins outside the top four.