A late onslaught by Ben Rohrer was not enough for the Delhi Daredevils as they slumped to a seven-run defeat against the Kings XI Punjab in the Pepsi Indian Premier League clash at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Thursday.
Full Scorecard: Punjab v Delhi
After being sent in to bat, Punjab posted 171 for four in their 20 overs thanks to an undefeated 44 from South African David Miller. Delhi were down and out, but a late surge from the Australian, Rohrer (49), brought Delhi close, as they ended on 164 for seven, with Sandeep Sharma claiming 3-23 in four overs, which put the visitors on the back foot.
Adam Gilchrist (42) and fellow Australian Shaun Marsh (45) made the perfect start for the home side as they added 60 for the first wicket off just 46 deliveries. Gilchrist hit five fours and two sixes in his 26-ball innings, after being dropped on eight by Umesh Yadav off Morne Morkel in the third over.
Azhar Mahmood (nine) struggled before being brilliantly caught by Siddarth Kaul on the boundary. Once Mahmood departed, Miller and Marsh added 34 for the third wicket before Marsh’s pedestrian innings came to an end, being caught by Irfan Pathan off Morkel (1-22).
The departure of Marsh signalled the beginning of the Miller onslaught, as the big-hitting Proteas batsman and Rajagopal Sathish (22) smashed 47 off only 21 balls for the fourth wicket.
Morkel and Pathan (1-28) were the only bowlers to escape the wrath of Miller and Sathish as Kaul (0-39), Yadav (0-38) and Ashish Nehra (2-38) all conceded more than nine runs to the over.
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The Delhi reply began slowly, with Mahela Jayawardene (39) and Unmukt Chand (seven) scoring 11 off 16 balls before Chand was cleaned bowled by Praveen Kumar (1-19) in the third over.
Sharma then struck twice in his first over, claiming the wickets of Pathan (one) and David Warner, with successive deliveries. The Daredevils had slumped to 12 for three at the end of the fourth over.
The visitors struggled to regroup, with Jayawardene consistently leaving the ball outside off-stump. A 49-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Jayawardene and his regular opening partner, Virender Sehwag (30), brought some respectability to the score.
Parvinder Awana (1-28) then got Sehwag to edge one to Gilchrist behind the stumps, giving the former Australian wicketkeeper his second catch of the night. Rohrer then joined his captain and added a quick-fire 50 off 34 balls for the fifth wicket.
Jayawardene, who had been dropped three times already in the innings, was eventually caught by Manan Vohra on the deep square-leg boundary off Sharma, giving the 19-year old right-arm medium bowler his third wicket on the night.
Muralidharen Gautam (12 not out) then joined Rohrer for a swash-buckling 39 off only 18 deliveries. With 41 runs needed off the final two overs, Delhi seemed well short, but then Rohrer clobbered Mahmood (0-40) for two consecutive sixes, as the former Pakistan all-rounder conceded 19 runs off his final over.
The leg-break bowler, Piyush Chawla (2-44) then cleaned bowled Rohrer with the first ball of the final over. Rohrer faced just 29 balls for his 49, hitting four fours and three maximums along the way.
His dismissal brought Morkel to the crease, who then promptly smashed Chawla back over his head for six. Two balls later, the Proteas bowler smashed the spinner for another six over long-on.
But Morkel was then caught by Miller on the long-on boundary off the final delivery, handing victory to the hosts by just seven runs. Morkel faced just four balls for his 13 runs.
This victory keeps the Kings XI Punjab in contention for a playoff position, provided other results go their way. Delhi have now suffered their fifth consecutive defeat and go into their final match hoping to better the result of the Pune Warriors, so as to avoid ending bottom of the log.
KINGS XI PUNJAB: AC Gilchrist (capt & wk), SE Marsh, Mandeep Singh, Azhar Mahmood, DA Miller, M Vohra, R Sathish, PP Chawla, P Kumar, P Awana, Sandeep Sharma
DELHI DAREDEVILS: DPMD Jayawardene (capt), V Sehwag, UBT Chand, DA Warner, BJ Rohrer, CM Gautam (wk), IK Pathan, M Morkel, S Kaul, UT Yadav, A Nehra