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Daredevils thumps KKR

— PHOTO: AP

LEADING FROM THE FRONT: Stand-in captain Gautam Gambhir took Daredevils to a comprehensive win over Knight Riders on Tuesday.

Durban: Gautam Gambhir made a timely return to form with a chancy unbeaten half-century to lead Delhi Daredevils to an easy nine-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match here on Tuesday.

Gambhir (71 not out), who was standing in for Virender Sehwag for the second consecutive match, was dropped twice — on 21 and 65 — and he ensured that Kolkata Knight Riders paid dearly for the blunders by hitting his first half-century this season and sixth IPL fifty.

David Warner (36) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (42 not out) were the other notable contributors as Delhi Daredevils chased down the target of 155 with six balls to spare at Kingsmead.

Gambhir, who hit seven fours in his 57-ball innings, hit the winning runs, a four to take his team to 157 for one.

Earlier electing to bat, Kolkata Knight Riders posted 154 for three, its highest score so far in the tournament, thanks mainly to Morne van Wyk’s 48-ball 74.

With the win, its fifth from seven matches, Delhi Daredevils jumped to the top of the table with 10 points, one point ahead of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, but one game lesser than both.

For Kolkata Knight Riders, the defeat, its seventh from nine matches and fifth on the trot, meant it is almost out of semifinal contention as it is languishing at the bottom of eight-team table with three points.

Man of the Match Gambhir played anchor and shunned his usual aggressiveness but at the same time was effective for the situation.

He was at first content with giving more strike to his aggressive opening partner Warner and did the same in the company of Dilshan later on.

Shoddy fielding

Delhi Daredevils batsmen also capitalised on shoddy fielding and Dilshan was dropped while on 24 in the 16th over.

Gambhir and Warner began the run chase on a cautious note and punished Ishant Sharma for 17 runs in the third over.

Warner hit Ashok Dinda for a six in the fourth over and another maximum result from Moises Henriques the next over took Delhi Daredevils to 49 at the end of the fifth over.

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Brendon McCullum had an embarrassing moment in the seventh over when he could not hold on to an easy chance off Ajit Agarkar to a catch-out chance of Gambhir when the Delhi captain was on 21.

Off the next ball, Warner was out with Moises Henriques taking a well-judged catch. The Australian’s 23-ball 36 included five fours and a six.

As if angry for dismissing Warner, next man in Dilshan punished Agarkar with two consecutive fours in the ninth over which yielded 11 runs.

Delhi needed less than eight runs an over from the last 10 overs but Gambhir and Dilshan ran for ones and twos with the occasional boundary to raise the 100 in the 14th over. — PTI

SCOREBOARD

Kolkata Knight Riders: van Wyk b Nehra 74 (48b 11x4), B. McCullum c Nehra b Sangwan 35 (29b 1x4, 3x6), B. Hodge c de Villiers b Sangwan 10 (19b), M. Henriques (not out) 30 (24b, 2x4, 1x6), W. Saha (not out) 1 (1b); Extras: (w-3, nb-1): 4; Total (for three wkts. in 20 overs): 154.

Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-98, 3-147.

Delhi Daredevils bowling: Nannes 4-0-49-0, Nehra 4-0-23-1, Mishra 4-1-18-0, Sangwan 4-0-29-2, Bhatia 4-0-35-0.

Delhi Daredevils: G. Gambhir (not out) 71 (57b, 7x4), D. Warner c Henriques b Agarkar 36 (23b, 5x4, 1x6), T. Dilshan (not out) 42 (34b, 5x4, 1x6); Extras (lb-1, w-7): 8; Total (for one wkt. in 19 overs): 157.

Fall of wicket: 1-60.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Ishant 4-0-43-0, Dinda 2-0-17-0, Henriques 4-0-36-0, Hodge 2-0-18-0, Agarkar 3-0-24-1, Kartik 4-0-18-0.

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