DD couldn't chase down 144.
Delhi Daredevils failed to chase down a modest target of 144 at home as they went down to Kings XI Punjab by four runs at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground here on Monday.
It all came down to 17 runs needed off the final over, with a set Shreyas Iyer facing Mujeeb Ur Rahman. The Mumbai batsman did manage to hit a six and a four besides taking a two but with five needed off the last ball, holed out to deep extra cover as a dejected captain Gautam Gambhir look on from the dressing room. The hosts top-order once crumbled again, with the experienced players in Gambhir and Glenn Maxwell, promoted to No. 3, failing to deliver yet again.
Young Prithvi Shaw made an enterprising 22 before being cleaned up by Ankit Rajpoot, while Rishabh Pant saw his stumps castled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Losing half their side in the 12th over for just 76, the hosts stared at yet another demoralising defeat. However, Iyer and Rahul Tewatia had other ideas. While the former played the sheet anchor's role to perfection, the latter struck the boundaries frequently to bring the equation down to 28 off the last three overs. But the visitors then struck back, removing Tewatia and Liam Plunkett in three balls as Delhi needed 17 off the last over, a task which was too big even for Iyer. Earlier, even before the spectators could settle down on their seats to watch this showdown, the news of Chris Gayle sitting out of the playing XI due to a fitness issue took the fizz out of the game.
Add to that, one of the Kotla's stands, the Old Pavilion End that failed to meet local municipal commission norms, was already wearing a deserted look. After being put in to bat by the hosts, the start of the battle was much on expected lines after Gayle's exit. The Delhi bowlers restricted KXIP to 143/8, with Liam Plunkett (3/17) proving to be a tough nut to crack for the visitors. While he took the important wickets of KL Rahul (23), Mayank Agarwal (21) and Karun Nair (34), his colleagues Trent Boult (2/21) and Avesh Khan (2/36) also backed skipper Gambhir's decision to bowl first with some tidy bowling. After losing Aaron Finch early, Punjab batsmen did get a few good starts but couldn't convert them into big scores.
Despite the absence of Gayle, Punjab did well to reach 42 in just 4.3 overs with some big hitting by in-form Rahul. But Plunkett, playing his first game of this IPL season, surprised Rahul with his slow off-cutter and then left the incoming batsmen wondering about his variations. The visitors managed 51 runs from the six Powerplay, losing two wickets. But they then struggled to maintain the momentum after Plunkett uprooted Mayank Agarwal's stumps for 21.
Veteran Yuvraj Singh (17) once again failed to show his old spark during his tentative 14-ball stay in the middle. He ended his innings in an attempt to pull Khan, which only landed in wicketkeeper Pant's gloves. Only Nair could manage 34 off 32 balls while David Miller smashed a late 26 off 19 balls to take team's total past the 140-run mark, which proved to be enough in the end.
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