Good morning! Kolkata has undergone quite a turnaround over the past few days, and the numbers are backing it up: the franchise has surged into the playoffs conversation thanks to four straight wins. Meanwhile, Delhi\u2019s home campaign has turned into a nightmare, and their captain is already looking ahead to next season. Here\u2019s the Cricbuzz Pulse from a night when Finn Allen finally played beyond the Powerplay\u2014and then completely took over.<\/p>\n
Last night in five lines<\/b> Pathum Nissanka provided Delhi with another bright start by striking a fluent fifty. KKR\u2019s bowling attack, powered by its spin trio, tightened the screws during the middle overs. Delhi ended up with 142\/8, a total described as undercooked after they slipped from 5 for 40 in the middle phase. Finn Allen launched a maiden IPL hundred, smashing it off 47 deliveries. KKR won with 5.4 overs left.<\/p>\n
Oh, that happened<\/b> Finn Allen had been 20 runs off 17 balls after the Powerplay, and in the first six overs he looked unusually restrained compared to his usual tempo. Then the legspin wave arrived. Allen took on Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam with ruthless consistency, turning their bowling into something closer to batting practice. In fact, eight of his ten sixes landed against that legspin duo.<\/p>\n
Pulse Awards<\/b> Finn Allen takes home the poker-face award<\/b> for initially letting Delhi\u2019s bowlers feel comfortable and then quickly stripping that comfort away with a rapid burst of hitting. Sunil Narine receives the still-doing-this-in-2026-somehow award<\/b> for finishing his four overs with figures of 17 runs and one wicket. Anukul Roy earns the side-character-steals-the-scene award<\/b> for entering a match where most of the noise had been about Narine and Varun, only to dismiss Nissanka and Stubbs within the same over. Ajinkya Rahane grabs the workplace-wellness award<\/b> for interviews that come across like a team-building session.<\/p>\n
Talking point<\/b> Kuldeep\u2019s slump has become a key theme behind Delhi\u2019s recurring problems. Across 10 games, he has managed just seven wickets. His economy rate stands at 10.66 per over\u2014marked as the second-worst figure for a spinner who has bowled at least 25 overs in an IPL season. On top of that, he has already been hit for 29 sixes. However, the bigger concern is the lack of breakthrough wickets: in six of his 10 outings this season, Kuldeep has gone wicketless. His strike rate has also inflated to 28.2, a sharp rise from his career T20 number of 16.8.<\/p>\n
The Chatter<\/b> Finn Allen admitted that earlier in the season he was \u201cputting too much pressure\u201d on himself. On the shift in his approach against Delhi, he said it was \u201ca little bit challenging at the start\u201d while Axar Patel was bowling well. From there, he \u201cknuckled down,\u201d \u201ctook a bit of responsibility,\u201d and focused on getting \u201ca win on the board.\u201d Axar Patel, for his part, felt the \u201cspinners made quite a few mistakes\u201d and stressed that there is \u201ca long journey\u201d ahead. He added that Delhi will now plan for next year, saying they will think about \u201cwhat plans we can make for next year and what approach we should take.\u201d Delhi\u2019s Director of Cricket, Venugopal Rao, said the \u201cbatters need to take responsibility\u201d and that the \u201c\u2019I\u2019ll do it, rather than somebody else does it\u2019 feeling is missing.\u201d Cameron Green said he was \u201c100 per cent ready to bowl four overs,\u201d noting that the current balance of the side meant he didn\u2019t have to complete his full quota in that game.<\/p>\n
Stat snack<\/b> Finn Allen became only the second New Zealand batter to score an IPL hundred, following Brendon McCullum.<\/p>\n
Gossip column<\/b> Word around the grounds is that the real reason players were pulled up for vaping is that fielders are already dropping enough catches under lights during this IPL season. With flat pitches keeping the ball skidding and constantly sending shots off the middle, the league apparently didn\u2019t want players blaming vape clouds instead.<\/p>\n
Tonight\u2019s watchlist<\/b> Rajasthan Royals, who have lost four of their last six matches, face Gujarat Titans in Jaipur. Gujarat\u2019s assistant coach Parthiv Patel joked that their games are \u201cnot high-scoring, we are dismissing teams for 150!\u201d. That line will surely have Vaibhav Sooryavanshi listening closely.<\/p>\n
Reckless prediction for tonight\u2019s match<\/b> Prasidh Krishna is set to cover every corner of Jaipur\u2014thanks to a 15-year-old who has a half-ticket and a full swing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Good morning! Kolkata has undergone quite a turnaround over the past few days, and the numbers are backing it up: the franchise has surged into…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"IPL 2026: Kolkata Wins Four Straight as Delhi Falters","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Kolkata\u2019s four-match winning streak powers them toward the playoffs as Delhi collapses again\u2014Finn Allen\u2019s breakout changes the night\u2019s momentum.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n