Kings XI Punjab became the first side to book their place in the semifinals of the Pepsi IPL with a four-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium on Monday. The win was Punjab?s ninth in eleven games while Delhi slumped to their tenth loss and seventh in succession. The match between the two sides at opposite ends of the points table was closer than expected though. Despite getting off to a typically brisk start, Punjab got to the target of 165 with only a couple of balls to spare.
Delhi had come close to snapping a six match losing streak but they didn?t deserve to. They bowled 10 wide balls, conceded four overthrows, dropped a catch and missed a runout. Earlier, while batting, they had placed themselves in a position to get a total in the region of 180 but faded away dramatically to hand away any initiative.
Delhi were140/2 after 16.4 overs. Another 20 runs would come off the next twelve balls but at the cost of 5 wickets. JP Duminy?s dismissal for 17 kickstarted the collapse. Kedar Jadhav, Mayank Aggarwal, Dinesh Karthik and Wayne Parnell all followed suit.
The dismissal of Karthik, while hooking a slow bouncer to square leg, was particularly crucial. He had been the side?s top scorer with a 44-ball 69 and his dismissal in the penultimate over meant that Delhi only managed nine runs off the last couple of overs.
The score, 165, was clearly a sub par total against a side who had chased two totals above two hundred this season, and the match appeared to be heading for an early finish as openers Manan Vohra and Virender Sehwag put on 66 in 6.2 overs. Vohra smashed 42 off 19 balls before a shot off Imran Tahir found the man at long off. Vohra though was hugely impressive off the seamers.
He hit Wayne Parnell for a six and a couple of fours while two fours and as many sixes came off Mohammad Shami. Vohra?s dismissal brought Glen Maxwell to the crease and the Australian responded to the stadium chanting his name with a six off Tahir. The leg spinner had his revenge soon after, bowling him with a googly in his next over. Maxwell?s dismissal had been preceded by that of Sehwag ? to JP Duminy for 21.
Duminy got another wicket in the 10th over ? that of the dangerous David Miller. Punjab?s were 94/4 when Akshar Patel walked in. Patel had earlier done his part with the ball ? bowling four overs including the last while returning figures of 1/18. A few cheap overs and the wicket of Wriddhiman Saha gave Delhi some hope but Patel hit three fours off the 16th over bowled by Wayne Parnell to bring the equation to 26 needed off the last four. Patel later cleared the ropes in the 18th over bowled by Shami to make the equation even simpler ? 11 needed off the last two.
Imran Tahir bowled a near perfect penultimate over, taking the wicket of George Bailey while conceding just two. Parnell needed to defend nine but Rishi Dhawan followed a couple of twos with a four pulled to midwicket to seal the win.