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Gambhir leads Delhi to victory

Mohali - Gautam Gambhir played a captain’s knock to lead the Delhi Daredevils to a narrow five-wicket win over the Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali on Saturday.

Gambhir scorched to 72 off 54 balls as Delhi, chasing Punjab’s total of 142 for nine, reached 146 for five with the winning runs coming off the penultimate ball of the match.

The left-handed Gambhir, who battled cramp towards the end of his innings, struck nine fours and a six before he was dismissed in the last over when he sent a leading edge off a delivery from left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan to Mahela Jayawardene at mid-off.

Gambhir fell with his team needing three runs to win off four balls but they reached the target in some style as Mithun Manhas slapped a short ball over point for four.

Delhi made hard work off chasing down a relatively low total as they struggled to 79 for four in the 13th over.

But Gambhir found a willing partner in the form of the right-handed Manhas as the pair put on 61 runs off seven overs for the fifth-wicket.

Manhas played a crucial supporting role as he ended not out on 31 off 24 deliveries.

Fast bowler Sree Sreesanth, after claiming two wickets in his first over, ended with figures of two for 24 while left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh was economical with his three overs costing just 11 runs.

Earlier, Ravi Bopara constructed a valuable half-century to help the stuttering Kings XI to their final total.

After the home side had been reduced to 44 for four England international Bopara, who opened the batting, scored 58 off 48 balls before he clipped a delivery from medium-pacer Yo Mahesh to Manhas at deep square-leg with the fielder completing a good, running catch.

The right-handed Bopara, who brought up his fifty off 41 deliveries, struck seven fours and a six during his innings before becoming the seventh wicket to fall.

After being put into bat Punjab made their way to 39 for one before their innings was derailed as they lost three wickets in seven balls.

Seamer Farveez Maharoof captured the prize scalps of Kumar Sangakkara (17) and Yuvraj (4) before medium-pacer Pradeep Sangwan had Jayawardene (0) caught behind by keeper Dinesh Karthik.

Bopara and the left-handed Pathan (21) managed to steady the innings with a fifth-wicket stand that produced 60 runs before Pathan skipped down the wicket to the part-time off-spin of Tillakaratne Dilshan and was stumped to leave Punjab on 104 for five in the 14th over.

Left-arm quick Dirk Nannes, who sent down an opening spell of two overs for just three runs, dismantled Punjab’s tail when he bowled Ramesh Powar (3) before having Piyush Chawla (5) caught at third man.

Nannes ended the innings with the superb figures of two for 12 off four overs while Maharoof finished with two for 37.

Teams:

Kings XI Punjab:
RS Bopara, MS Bisla, KC Sangakkara (capt & wk), DPMD Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh, IK Pathan, M Kaif, PP Chawla, RR Powar, YA Abdulla, S Sreesanth

Delhi Daredevils:

G Gambhir (capt), V Sehwag, TM Dilshan, AB de Villiers, KD Karthik (wk), M Manhas, MF Maharoof, A Mishra, PJ Sangwan, VY Mahesh, DP Nannes

 
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