Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) Kings XI Punjab lived up to their new found reputation of party spoilers as they outclassed Delhi Daredevils by seven wickets in their Indian Premier League match at the Feroze Shah Kotla here Sunday.
After becoming the first team to be counted out of contention for this edition, Kings XI have bounced back to notch their third win from their last four matches. The Punjab side last week humbled Kolkata Knight Riders in their own backyard and stunned table topper Mumbai Indians at Mohali Saturday.

Daredevils, who are two wins away from confirming a semifinal spot, once again had the bounce of luck when they won the toss for the fourth time at this venue but Punjab bowlers, minus a struggling Brett Lee, kept a tight length and wrapped up the homeside for 111, the lowest IPL total here, with three balls to spare.

Kings XI then chased down the target with eight balls remaining.

Irfan Pathan with three for 24 from his 3.4 overs was pick of the Kings bowlers while leg-spinner Piyush Chawla was impressive in his two-wicket haul for miserly 16 on the slow Kotla track.

The loss has placed Daredevils in the third place with 12 points from 11 matches.

Needing a small total for a win, Kings XI sent Irfan Pathan along with Mahela Jayawardene to open the innings. The two rustled up 41 runs before Pathan (12) swung Amit Mishra (1-15) to Rajat Bhatia at the deep midwicket boundary.

Jayawardene, who played a quick 35-ball 38 with four fours and a six, departed four overs later when he top edged while attempting to sweep Paul Collingwood and Ashish Nehra, who was playing his first IPL match this season after coming back from an rib injury, took the catch at short fine leg.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara (33) and Yuvraj Singh (21 not out) did the rest though the former became second victim of Collingwood (2-19) when the Punjab team needed two runs to win from 13 balls. Sangakkara’s knock came off 30 balls with four fours. Yuvraj’s innings came in 25 balls with two fours and a six.

Earlier, the hosts were off to a shaky start, from which they could never recover.

Delhi dasher Virender Sehwag mistimed a Pathan delivery to Reetinder Sodi at the midwicket for a golden duck in the second over and his dismissal was an indication of the things to come.

Skipper Gautam Gambhir (26, 5×4) was in deft touch and with David Warner (6) looked poised to build the Daredevils innings but a bad call from the Australian for a single cut short his stay. Gambhir was run out for the third successive time.

To make matters worse, a ball later, Warner was himself run out when he tried to steal an improbable single and was sent back by Paul Collingwood. The two run-outs took a heavy toll and Delhi were suddenly tottering at 41 for three.

A lot depended on Collingwood and Daniel Vettori, both having proved themselves with the bat on slow pitches, to resurrect the innings. But their quick dismissals snuffed out any hope of a fightback, with even a 100-run target looking out of reach at one stage which was made posiible by Manhas (26 off 28 balls).