Delhi dismiss Punjab, storm into play-offs

Delhi Daredevils became the first team to cement their place in the play-offs as they bested Kings XI Punjab by five wickets on a seamer-friendly wicket at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Tuesday night.

Delhi?s tenth win of the season elevated them to 20 points, and was brought about by their young Indian pacemen Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav, who restricted Punjab to 136-8, and Mahela Jayawardene, who finally came good with an unbeaten 49-ball 56 as he guided his team home in the chase with an over to spare.

The realization of victory was not really straightforward. Delhi lost David Warner early, and then Parvinder Awana rocked them with three quick wickets ? of Virender Sehwag, Venugopal Rao and Ross Taylor, leaving the home side tottering on 37-4 in the sixth over.

Jayawardene steadied the ship with Naman Ojha (34) and then collaborated with Irfan Pathan to make certain that no last-gasp vagaries were allowed to creep in. Delhi needed 26 in 18 balls when Awana returned for his last over and what a turnaround in fortunes he experienced. Pathan brutalised the medium pacer for three boundaries, reducing the requirement drastically.

And then Jayawardene ended the game in style, by cracking three successive fours in Azhar Mahmood?s penultimate over of the chase.

The respective and possible gains from the match were known in black and white before the match. Delhi needed to win one of three remaining games to make the next stage, while Punjab needed to win all their remaining fixtures to stay in the hunt. As it happened, Delhi went through, and Punjab were left with a host of mathematical possibilities, but little else.

Punjab had earlier fended off Delhi?s pacemen to post 136-8, despite ? or because of ? a regular loss of wickets. In this first meeting between the teams in IPL-V, David Hussey played the lone hand for Kings XI with an unbeaten 40, as Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav picked up five wickets in eight overs, giving away just 40 runs.

Punjab had progressed to 24 without loss (in three overs) when the first one fell, as Varun had Shaun Marsh caught on the legside off his first ball. In his next over, the young tear-away accounted for Mandeep Singh, who was pouched by Sehwag at mid-wicket.

Still, Punjab reached fifty in the seventh over, and looked good for a competitive total before Umesh Yadav came on to bowl in the eighth over of the innings. Almost immediately, Umesh struck, striking as Nitin Saini hit out loosely at a fast away-moving delivery to be caught at slip.

Much depended on David Miller, but the South African was run-out by a direct hit from Pawan Negi. And when Azhar Mahmood holed out to Umesh, Punjab were left without any dependable batsman to support Hussey in the middle.

Gurkeerat Singh, the man responsible for a match-winning cameo against Deccan Chargers, was good for a couple of boundaries, but he too departed soon ? out stumped against the left-arm spin of Negi. All this while, Hussey had cruised along, ensuring that his team had something to defend. But the total that Punjab finished with was never going to be enough, despite Delhi losing their top batsmen with barely anything on the board.