Punjab beat Delhi by seven runs to keep play-off hopes alive
Kings XI Punjab endured some heart-stopping moments before registering a nailbiting seven-run win over Delhi Daredevils in an IPL match here on Thursday.
With this win, Punjab kept themselves afloat as they have 14 points from 15 matches and are still in with a mathematical chance to qualify for the play-offs.
First Punjab batsmen played some thoughtful innings to take their team to a solid 171/4 in 20 overs, and then medium pacer Sandeep Sharma, playing only his second match this season, soulofcricketer.mystrikingly.com took successive three-wicket haul to underlined his importance.
Kings XI Punjab's Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh takes a run against Delhi Daredevils during the IPL 6 match in Dharamshala
But it was Delhi's Ben Rohrer, who put up a brilliant fight and blasted 49 off 29 balls to take Delhi close to victory.
The visitors needed 22 off the last over bowled by Piyush Chawla as the home fans turned silent when Morne Morkel 12 (4b, 2x6s) hit back-to-back sixes of Azhar Mahmood in the 19th over.
But Rohrer departed on the first ball of the 20th over and that sealed Delhi's fate.Although Morne Morkel six Chawla for two sixes, they were not enough as the leg-spinner bowled good balls.
Earlier, openers Adam Gilchrist's fast-paced 42 and Shaun Marsh's slowbut- steady 45 laid a solid foundation for Punjab.
Although Delhi seamers Morkel, Umesh Yadav and Irfan Pathan put the brakes on the Punjab batsmen initially, explosive South African David Miller's 44 not out and Rajagopal Sathish's 22 guided their team to a fighting total.
For Delhi, other than Rohrer, only opener skipper Mahela Jayawardene 39 and Virender Sehwag 30, who batted at No.4, showed resistance. Punjab put Delhi on the back foot, sending their three top-order batsmen back to pavilion within eight deliveries.
First, comeback-man Praveen Kumar bowled opener Unmukt Chand cheaply, then Sandeep Sharma, playing only his second match this season, broke Delhi's backbone by getting the wickets of Irfan Pathan and David Warner on successive deliveries in the fourth over.
That made Jayawardena and Sehwag play cautiously. By the time Sehwag edged Awana in the 11th over, the match was almost out of Delhi's grip as they were struggling at 61 for four.
There was no turnaround in their fortunes and they had 100 runs in 15 overs before Rohrer provided them with hope.
