Kings XI Punjab 5-121 (David Miller 34*, Mandeep Singh 24, RE van der Merwe 1-17) beat Delhi Daredevils 7-120 (David Warner 40, Virender Sehwag 23, Harmeet Singh 3-24) by five wickets.
The pace battery of Kings XI Punjab put their team back on the winning track after restricting the depleted batting attack of Delhi Daredevils to a low score.
Delhi Daredevils managed 120 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the measured 20 overs and Kings XI Punjab thrashed 121 with five wickets in hand and 18 balls to spare.
Harmeet Singh (Kings XI Punjab) was announced ‘Player of the match’ for his deadly bowling spell of 3-24 in four overs.
The 32nd match of the Indian Premier League was played on Wednesday, April 23, 2013, at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi.
Earlier, Adam Gilchrist, the captain of Kings XI Punjab won the toss and offered the batting to Delhi Daredevils. The decision proved vital since the visiting fast bowlers got rid of the two top order batsmen, skipper Mahela Jayawardene and RE van der Merwe for 4 and 8 runs respectively. David Warner got together with Virender Sehwag who added 10 runs in the fifth over with 1 six and 1 four. Warner tasted his first four in the next over as Sehwag was gone for 23 off 21 with 1 six and 2 fours. Manpreet Juneja was the next batsman in who tried to consolidate the innings with Warner who scored 15 runs in the 11th over with 1 six and 2 fours.
The partnership was enhanced to 82 in 13 overs when Harmeet Singh brought his team back in the game by removing two batsmen. He got the wicket of Manpreet Junejo for 14 on the third ball of the next over and Kedar Jadhav surrendered without scoring two balls later. David Warner was the seventh batsman who went back to the changing room for 40 off 36 with 1 six and 2 fours. Irfan Pathan remained unbeaten for 14 as the home side scored 120 with three wickets in hand in 20 overs.
Harmeet Singh was the star performer with three wickets, Praveen Kumar held two whereas Parvinder Awana and Bhargav Bhatt shared one wicket each.
Kings XI Punjab lost Adam Gilchrist for six when Luke Pomersbach joined together with Mandeep Singh who responded with three consecutive fours in the second over. The latter hit another two boundaries in the following over and Pomersbach also sent the ball out of the fence twice. The second wicket partnership took the score to 50 in 4.4 overs as Pomersbach was gone for 18 and Mandeep Singh was run out on the very next ball for 24 off 15 balls with 5 fours.
David Miller and Manan Vohra crept to 70 in 9.2 overs when the latter was caught and bowled by Johan Botha for 8 runs and was replaced by David Hussey. The batsmen at the crease did not panic as they required just 36 runs to win the game in 54 deliveries. The score board was kept moving at a reasonable rate and Hussey became the next victim for 20 as the score reached 110 in 15.5 overs. David Miller kept his cool and stood firm by scoring 34 runs off 39 with 3 fours as Piyush Chawla got a winning single on the last ball of the 17th over.
Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Johan Botha and RE van der Merwe ended up with one wicket each.
Kings XI Punjab was the victorious side with a clear margin of five wickets and took their points tally to 8 after seven games.
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