Rarely have the Kings XI Punjab bowlers looked so effective. For a team that relies more on its batting to come out stronger, the Sandeep Sharma-led attack confined Delhi Daredevils to 67 — it’s lowest ever — before the openers finished the job with a flourish.
Chasing 68 for victory, Martin Guptill and a fit-again Hashim Amla needed only 7.5 overs to complete a 10-wicket rout.
The result took Kings XI’s tally to eight points from nine outings and kept Delhi Daredevils at four points, after eight matches.
Failing to recover from a three-wicket haul by Sandeep in the Powerplay — in his bag of four for 20 — Daredevils was all out in the 18th over.
Back after a one-match break, Sandeep scalped a wicket in each of his four overs, took two catches, including a brilliant, diving left-handed return catch to be adjudged ‘Man of the Match’.
Poor shot-selection
On a pitch, slower than usual, the Daredevils batsmen fell in a heap due to poor shot-selection and made the bowlers look even better.
After Sam Billings was caught behind in his attempt to run the ball to third man, Sanju Samson paid the price for not reading the pace of the pitch right. His intended shot to midwicket sent the ball, off a leading edge, to mid-off.
Sandeep’s third wicket was the dismissal of the day. Shreyas Iyer’s mistimed drive saw the alert bowler dive to his left and bring off a spectacular, low left-handed catch.
The introduction of Axar Patel’s left-arm spin shattered the stumps of Karun Nair, the stand-in skipper for an injured Zaheer Khan. In the following two overs, the dangerous duo of Rishabh Pant and Chris Morris departed. Glenn Maxwell’s trapped Pant leg-before in his first over and Patel’s second over accounted for Morris, with the bowler accepting a regulation return catch.
Introduced in the 15th over, Varun Aaron sent back Corey Anderson, bowled off the inside edge. Sandeep returned for his final over and scalped Kagiso Rabada, with Shaun Marsh at mid-on making amends for the spilled catch a little while ago. Mohammad Shami and Shahbaz Nadeem did not delay the inevitable.
Soon, Kings XI openers needed just 32 minutes to complete Daredevils’ misery. Guptill was the dominant of the two, hitting three sixes and six boundaries in his 27-ball 50. Amla, recovering from a pulled-hamstring, could afford to go slow.
Guptill’s 50 was clearly the highest contribution in terms of percentage of runs scored in a winning cause.
Daredevils’ lowest tally also tied the third-lowest in IPL. This was also Kings XI’s first 10-wicket win. The victory with 73 deliveries to spare is third highest in terms of number of balls remaining.
In addition, the aggregate of 135 runs for the loss of 10 wickets matched the previous low of 135 for the loss of 12 wickets in a clash involving host Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008.
Earlier, Daredevils left out an injured Zaheer, Pat Cummins and Ankit Bawne. Sam Billings, Shahbaz Nadeem and Mohammad Shami returned to action.
For Kings, Amla was back along with T. Nataraj, Aaron and Sandeep, for Eion Morgan, Ishant Sharma, Anureet Singh and K.C. Cariappa.
Scoreboard
Delhi Daredevils: Sanju Samson c Mohit b Sandeep 5 (14b, 1x4) , Sam Billings c Saha b Sandeep 0 (2b) , Karun Nair b Axar 11 (10b, 1x6) , Shreyas Iyer c & b Sandeep 6 (7b, 1x4) , Rishabh Pant lbw b Maxwell 3 (6b) , Corey Anderson b Aaron 18 (25b, 1x6) , Chris Morris c & b Axar 2 (5b) , Kagiso Rabada c Marsh b Sandeep 11 (20b, 1x4) , Amit Mishra (not out) 4 (9b) , Mohammed Shami c Sandeep b Aaron 2 (4b), Shahbaz Nadeem c & b Mohit 0 (1b) ; Extras (w-5): 5; Total (in 17.1 overs): 67.
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Billings, 0.6 overs), 2-7 (Samson, 2.5), 3-22 (Shreyas, 4.6), 4-25 (Karun, 6.1), 5-30 (Pant, 7.4), 6-33 (Morris, 8.4), 7-59 (Anderson, 14.1), 8-62 (Rabada, 15.3), 9-69 (Shami, 16.6).
Kings XI Punjab bowling: Sandeep Sharma 4-0-20-4, T. Natarajan 2-0-7-0, Mohit Sharma 1.1-0-3-1, Axar Patel 4-0-22-2, Glenn Maxwell 4-0-12-1, Varun Aaron 2-0-3-2.
Kings XI Punjab: Martin Guptill (not out) 50 (27b, 6x4, 3x6) , Hashim Amla (not out) 16 (20b, 1x4) ; Extras (w-2): 2; Total (for no loss in 7.5 overs): 68.
Delhi Daredevils bowling: Mohammed Shami 2-0-19-0, Kagiso Rabada 2-0-18-0, Chris Morris 2-0-13-0, Amit Mishra 1-0-9-0, Shahbaz Nadeem 0.5-0-9-0.
Toss: Kings XI.
Man-of-the-match: Sandeep.
Kings XI won by 10 wickets with 73 deliveries to spare.
