Kings XI slay fancied Daredevils

Irfan’s three for 24 and Chawla’s two for 16 helped Kings XI shot out Daredevils for a lowly 111 at the slow and turning track of Feroze Shah Kotla after home team captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to bat.

The Kings XI then returned to overhaul the target with eight balls to spare, courtesy Mahela Jayawardene (38), Kumar Sangakkara (33) and Yuvraj Singh’s unbeaten 21 off 25 balls.

Earlier, Gambhir’s decision to bat first backfired as Delhi’s much-famed batting line-up collapsed like a house of cards and they lost half of the side in exactly 10 overs with just 63 on board, before folding up for the lowest IPL total in Delhi.

Chasing 112 to win, Pathan and Jayawardene played cautiously on the slow Kotla wicket and picked up occasional boundaries to give Punjab a good start.

In the fourth over, Jayawardene picked up his first four and followed it up with a six off fellow-countrymen Farveez Maharoof, before slamming a couple of fours in the next two overs off Amit Mishra and Rajat Bhatia.

The duo forged a 41-run opening stand off 40 balls, before Mishra got rid of Irfan in the seventh over. Sangakkara and Jayawardene then added 24 runs off 26 balls to take Punjab to 65 in 11 overs when Paul Collingwood dismissed the latter.

With the Kotla pitch favouring slow bowlers, Sangakkara and new man Yuvraj decided to shun aggression and tried to build the innings with singles and twos.
With the required run-rate mounting, Yuvraj cracked a four and a six –- first towards fine-leg and the next over the mid wicket -– off Bhatia in the 14th over to ease the pressure.

Sangakkara also heaved one delivery off Collingwood over cover to pick up a four in the 16th over.Needing 17 off 24 balls, Sangakkara first sent Daniel Vettori across the square-leg boundary before hitting him for another four through fine-leg to take Kings XI past 100-mark.

With just two runs to win, Sangakkara was bowled by Collingwood but it was too little and too late as Adrian Barath finished the match with a quick single.
Earlier, Irfan and Chawla helped Kings XI bundle out the hosts for a lowly total. Yuvraj and Love Ablish also accounted for one each.