File Picture Courtesy : BCCI
Kings XI Punjab held on to their nerves and kept taking wickets to beat Delhi Daredevils by 4 runs at Feroz Shah Kotla. In a low -scoring match Kings XI managed to score 143 /8 and then bowled well to restrict Delhi to 139 / 8.
After putting the Kings to bat first, Delhi bowlers led by Trent Boult, debutants Avesh Khan and English paceman Liam Plunkett bolwed impressively . Delhi had made as many as five changes in the squad . Plunkett, had terrific figures of 3/17 . Trent Boult and Avesh Khan had two wickets apiece.
Chasing 144 to win, Delhi got off to a flier with Prithvi Shaw scoring a quick- fire 22 off 10 balls in his IPL debut. But soon the batting fell apart. Skipper Gautam Gambhir struggled yet again to get going and fell for (4), Glenn Maxwell continued his inconsistent display scoring (12) and when man in form Rishabh Pant fell for (4) it was almost over for Delhi . The loss was Delhi’s 5th in 6 matches so far. They need a miracle now in their remaining matches to reach the play- offs.
Batting is major worry with skipper Gambhir, Maxwell struggling, and putting lot of pressure on Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.
Shreyas Iyer tried his best scoring 57 off 45 balls and Rahul Tewatia ( 24) put on 50 run stand but went in vain in the end . For the Kings, Ankit Rajpoot, bowled with fire bag figures of 2/23 in four overs. He was supported by Andrew Tye and Mujeeb ur Rahman picked up two wickets to halt Daredevils’ chase.
