IPL 6: Bowlers set up comfortable win for Kings XI Punjab

Kings XI Punjab 121/5 beat (Miller 34* Hussey 20) Delhi Daredevils 120/7 (Warner 40) by 5 wickets.

For scorecard and ball by ball details click here.

The wicket at Feroz Shah Kotla was a perfect batting strip and it remained the same throughout the match that Kings XI Punjab classically exploited. Kings XI Punjab bowlers maintaineda tight line and length and kept chipping away at the wickets to restrict the Daredevils to 120 on a good batting track and later cruised to the target in most tricky fashion to win by five wickets.

Kings XI Punjab dominated the greater part of the game. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals, but at the same time they scored the runs at 7.00 runs per over. Mandeep Singh and Pomersbach smacked the Daredevils bowlers all over the park. The duo managed to find at least a couple of boundaries per over and kept the required rate under control. Mandeep Singh struck five blistering boundaries, while Pomersbach struck three delightful fours before getting dismissed for 18 runs off 10 balls. Also, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra offered too much width to Mandeep Singh, which he cashed in on.

Roelof Van der Merwe bowled wicket to wicket and kept a check on the run-flow. Johan Botha also bowled a pretty good spell that included the wicket of the dangerous Vohra (8). Delhi Daredevils were never able to maintain the pressure despite bowling in right areas in the later stages of the match as Hussey and Miller took the Kings XI to a comprehensive five-wicket win.

Delhi Daredevils would be extremely disappointed with the batting performance as they didn’t exploit the wicket perfectly. Jayawardene struck a beautiful boundary off Praveen Kumar in the second ball of the innings, but subsequently nicked the second delivery to Hussey, who held on to a safe catch at first slip. Virender Sehwag carried on his form that he showed against the Mumbai Indians as he played some delightful shots before getting dismissed for 23, leaving Delhi Daredevils reeling at 45/3, not the situation they would have wished to be in.

David Warner and Juneja re-constructed the innings for the Daredevils, with a constructive partnership of 49 runs. David Warner looked a threat to Kings XI Punjab as he was constantly finding the boundaries against the spinners. Gilchrist made a surprise bowling change as he brought Harmeet Singh into the attack and consequently, he was rewarded with the wicket of Juneja for 24. David Warner couldn’t take the aerial route as he was losing his partners at regular intervals. Finally, David Warner was dismissed for a good innings of 40 as he was yorked by Praveen Kumar in the 17th over.

Delhi Daredevils have lost their seventh game and that means they are definitely knocked out of the Pepsi IPL 2013. But this is where they can be dangerous team as they can spoil the party for other teams.

Delhi Daredevils play their next game against Pune Warriors on April 28, while Kings XI Punjab play their next game against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 26.