Shoaib Akhtar .

Shoaib Akhtar put months of turmoil behind him by taking four quickfire wickets on his Indian Premier League debut to help the Kolkata Knight Riders to a 23-run win over the Delhi Daredevils on Tuesday.

Shoaib - available for selection after a five-year ban imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board was suspended for a month pending an appeal - wasted little time in making an impact, claiming all his victims inside the first five overs of the Delhi innings for the loss of just 11 runs.

Kolkata opener Salman Butt's 48 was the best individual total of a low-scoring encounter that saw the Daredevils fail to chase down the Knight Riders' meagre total of 133 for six. Amit Mishra's 31 was as good as it got for the visitors, who managed just 110 runs before they were bowled out inside 18 overs.

The victory continues a marked turnaround in fortunes for the Knight Riders, who are now on a three-match winning streak after suffering four successive defeats.