Kolkata Knight Riders boosted their hopes of qualifying for the Indian Premier League play-offs by beating Delhi Capitals by 14 runs.

After being held to 204-9 after a fast start, KKR removed the Capitals' top three inside seven overs.

Faf du Plessis and Capitals captain Axar Patel rebuilt to 136-3 with a fine partnership of 76 but Axar, who was struggling with a hand injury sustained while fielding, fell as the first of three wickets for veteran spinner Sunil Narine.

Axar was caught at cover for 43, South Africa Tristan Stubbs bowled for one four balls later and Du Plessis caught at deep mid-wicket for 62.

West Indies international Narine, standing in as skipper with Ajinkya Rahane off the field, then turned to fellow spinner Varun Chakravarthy who dismissed Ashutosh Sharma and Mitchell Starc in consecutive balls.

Some powerful hitting by Vipraj Nigam kept the game alive but, with 25 needed from the final over, the Capitals finished on 190-9. Nigam fell for 38 from 19 balls off the penultimate ball.

Narine and Ramanullah Gurbaz had earlier put on 48 in three overs for the first wicket in KKR's innings which faded late on.

Narine made 27, Gurbaz and Rahane 26, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 44 and Rinku Singh 36, meaning they passed 200 despite losing 5-45 in the final five overs.

Rahane said before KKR will have to win their final five matches to finish in the top four. They remain seventh but close the gap to the Capitals in fourth to three points.