Punjab beats Delhi in rain-reduced game
Mahela Jayawardena (36) and Luke Pomersbach (25) put together priceless unbeaten cameos that saw Kings XI Punjab pound Delhi Daredevils by six runs via the Duckworth-Lewis system at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi on May 18. Rain interrupted the match on two occasions and reduced the match to eleven overs a side.
In pursuit of a revised target of 123 in 11 overs, the Yuvraj Singh-led side batted enduring a light drizzle early in their innings. They ultimately finished at 94 for the loss of three wickets in eight overs when play was called off. The visitors were six runs ahead when this happened and were declared winners on the basis of the D/L method.
For Delhi Daredevils, Virender Sehwag blasted an unbeaten half century as his team ended on 118 for four in 11 overs. Sehwag's magnificent knock included five sixes and a couple of fours, while the in-form Gautam Gambhir contributed with a 28-ball 40.
For the Kings XI, Jayawardena's 17-ball 36 included three sixes and two fours, while Pomersbach's 25 came off 12 balls.
Kings XI Punjab encountered an early loss in the second over when Pradeep Sangwan removed the explosive Shaun Marsh (2) with Shikhar Dhawan running backwards to take a blinder.
The next man in was skipper Yuvraj Singh who hooked Sangwan over the ropes and hit Aussie Glenn McGrath for two consecutive sixes. However, McGrath got the better of the left-hander when Farveez Maharoof took a dazzling catch to dismiss him after a sizzling 23 off just 8 deliveries.
James Hopes (4) too could not do much but Jayawardena and Pomersbach played intelligent cricket to see their side through.
Earlier, the Delhi skipper elected to bat first and thrived on the opportunity of a dropped catch by his Kings XI counterpart Yuvraj Singh. Sreesanth had been troubling Sehwag all along and the opportunity finally came when Sehwag induced a skier to Yuvraj. But alas, all he could do was to get on with the next delivery as Yuvraj spilled the chance.
Sehwag made most of the time before the rain gods arrived to cut short his dazzler of an innings. After a drizzle had delayed the start, the crowd must have been expecting it to rain fours and sixes.
A couple of deliveries later, Gambhir slashed one that flew to VRV Singh at third man but the latter was in two minds whether to stop the boundary or commit to a catch. In the end he ended up doing neither. Sreesanth wasn’t too pleased with the effort.
Sehwag got 22 off VRV Singh's first over. Gambhir was clean bowled by IPL debutant Ramesh Powar after a rather stormy 40. The two had put up an opening stand of 75.
Sehwag was in no mood to step back and continued his swashbuckling ways; hitting Powar and Piyush Chawla at will and ease. Sehwag was not affected by either the spin of Chawla or pace of Sreesanth. The nightmare for Punjab came to an end after the heavens chose to dominate the proceedings.
After play resumed Shikhar Dhawan (8), Dilshan (6) and Farveez Maharoof perished in an attempt to accelerate in what was reduced to 11 overs-a-side match.