April 23, 2013
Brief Scorecard: Kings XI Punjab 121 for 5 (Miller 34*) beat Delhi Daredevils 120 for 7 (Warner 40, Harmeet 3-24) by five wickets
Harmeet Singh (right) made an impact in his first game of 2013
April 23, 2013
Brief Scorecard: Kings XI Punjab 121 for 5 (Miller 34*) beat Delhi Daredevils 120 for 7 (Warner 40, Harmeet 3-24) by five wickets
Harmeet Singh (right) made an impact in his first game of 2013
NEW DELHI: Kings XI Punjab thrashed Delhi Daredevils by five wickets in the IPL clash at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Tuesday.
Despite losing skipper Adam Gilchrist early and hiccups in mid overs, Kings XI Punjab achieved the meagre 121 target, set by Delhi Daredevils, with three overs to spare.
David Miller, the star of Punjab's previous victory, held his nerves and guided Punjab to another thumping win.
Adam Gilchrist poor show continued as Irfan Pathan dismissed Punjab skipper in the first over.
Gilchrist scored just six before getting caught by Johan Botha to leave his fans disappointed once again.
Mandeep Singh and Luke Pomersbach, however, didnt allow Delhi to put pressure after early loss and guided the side to 50 in the sixth over.
However, just when Punjab score touched 50 Van der Merwe bowled out Pomersbach. Before, Punjab could recover, Mandeep got run out leaving Delhi at 50/3.
Manan Vohra (8) was the fourth man to be dismissed in Punjab's chase of a meagre 121. Johan Botha took a simple return catch to end Vohra's challenge, reducing Punjab to 70/4 in 9.2 overs.
Earlier, Delhi Daredevils failed to make an impact as a batting unit as they scored a meagre 120 for seven.
After their crushing victory over heavyweights Mumbai Indians on Sunday, much was expected from the home side batsmen, but they could only post a small total after being put in to bat at the Feroze Shah Kotla.
David Warner top-scored with a 36-ball 40 while Virender Sehwag, who hit a match-winning 95 not out against MI, contributed 23 off 21 balls. Delhi never had a substantial partnership as they lost wickets at regular intervals and the almost packed crowd was quiet for most part of the innings.
For KXIP, Harmeet Singh three grabbed wickets for 24 runs, while Praveen Kumar took two for 29.
Delhi made a disastrous start as captain Mahela Jayawardene (4) got out in the fourth delivery of the innings with just four runs on the board while trying to drive an outswinger bowled by Praveen Kumar for David Hussey to take an easy catch at wide slip.
Roelof van der Merwe (8) was promoted up the order but he did not last long as his innings ended after facing just nine balls. The South African's mistimed shot off Parvinder Awana ballooned in the air after finding the top edge of his bat for Mandeep Singh to take an easy catch at cover.
At 22 for two in the fourth over, Delhi were on the backfoot and much was expected from Sehwag's blade. But it was not to be Sehwag's day as, after hitting Harmeet Singh for a four and six off consecutive balls in the fifth over, he drove the same bowler up in the air in the seventh over for Mandeep Singh to take a fine catch at the extra-cover region.
At the halfway stage, Delhi were 54 for three and Kings XI Punjab skipper Adam Gilchrist's ploy of putting the opposition in seemed to be working fine.
Australia's Warner was in a punishing mood as he clobbered leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for a six and two fours to take 16 runs from the 11th over.
But just as the duo of Warner and Manprit Juneja looked like settling down for a big stand, the latter was out in the 14th over after a partnership of 39 runs in 6.3 overs.
Three balls later, new man in, Kedar Jadhav (0) became Harmeet's third victim and Delhi were 85 for five in the 14th over.
Johan Botha (1) departed before Warner became Praveen's second victim in the 18th over as Delhi failed to give the final thrust to put up a challenging total. They could score just 30 runs from the last five overs.
Courtesy: PTI
