Sam Billings’ 55 off 40 deliveries and Corey Anderson’s 22-ball 39 helped set up a victory for the Delhi Daredevils against the Kings XI Punjab on Saturday.
Kings XI Punjab held the advantage having won 10 out of the 18 matches against the Daredevils, but an awesome bowling display saw the Delhi-based side win their 19th encounter.
The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first, as KXIP bowled well, taking wickets at regular intervals to help restrict DD to 120-5 by the 16th over.
Billings anchored his side’s innings by scoring 55 off 40 balls as DD passed the 100-run mark, but he lost his wicket in the 13th over to Axar Patel (1-33).
Sanju Samson (19 off 18), Shreyas Iyer (22 off 17), Rishabh Pant (15 off 9) and Chris Morris (16 off 7) bumped their side to 151-6, but it was Corey Anderson (39 off 22) and Patt Cummins (12 off 6) who helped DD post a competitive total.
It started with two sixes off the last two balls of the 19th over from Anderson, followed by consecutive fours off the first two balls of the last over from Cummins. Then Anderson smashed a four and a six off the last two balls, to help DD post 188-6 in their 20 overs.
Varun Aaron was KXIP’s best bowler taking 2-45.
KXIP struggled to get going losing three wickets for 31 runs, including Hashim Amla (19 off 11 balls) who fell to Morris in the fifth over.
Eoin Morgan squeezed out 22 off 20 balls, but he lost his wicket on the last ball of the 10th over, followed by his captain Glenn Maxwell for a duck three balls later.
With DD on 65-5, David Miller‘s wicket was key and he managed to give his side a minor boost with a 28-ball 24, but he was trapped lbw by Anderson as the KXIP lost their top six for 88 runs.
Despite a lone-hand knock from Patel at the back of the innings (44 off 29 balls), who hit three sixes and a four, the DD bowlers were too much to handle as they throttled KXIP to 137-9.
Morris (3-23), Cummins (2-25) and Shahbaz Nadeem (2-12) were DD’s top bowlers as they helped their side claim a 51-run victory.
Elsewhere, Robin Uthappa (68 off 39) and Manish Pandey (46 off 35) put on 77 for the third wicket to help the Kolkata Knight Riders post a competitive 172-6 in their first innings. This was enough to take them level with the Mumbai Indians in first place, as their bowlers played their part to reduce the defending champions, Sunrisers Hyderabad, to 153-6 and claim a 17-run victory.
Photo: Shaun Roy/Sportzpics/IPL/Cricinfo
