Kings XI Punjab managed to defend a target of 144 to beat Delhi Daredevils by four runs in a thrilling contest at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Monday.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman managed to prevent Shreyas Iyer from scoring the required 17 runs off the last over and Delhi Daredevils ended the match with a score of 139/8. This condemned Delhi to a fifth loss in six matches and they remain bottom of the table. Kings XI Punjab, on the other hand, overtakes Chennai Super Kings to take the top spot. They have now won five and lost one of their opening matches.
Chasing 144 for victory, Delhi were restricted to 139 for 8 in 20 overs thanks to some superb bowling by fast bowlers Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot and Barinder Sran.
Rajpoot, Tye and spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman picked up 2 wickets each while Sran got one wicket and bowled a fantastic penultimate over giving away just 4 runs.
For the Daredevils, it was middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer who waged a lone battle with 57 runs off 45 balls and was the last wicket to fall off the final ball from Mujeeb.
DD looked on track to chase down the total till the time Iyer and Rahul Tewatia were batting as the two had forged a crucial 47-run stand for the sixth wicket in just 36 balls. But once Tewatia departed on 24, Iyer just kept losing partners and the required rate got too big on him in the final two overs.
Earlier, a disciplined bowling effort by the Daredevils restricted Kings XI to a paltry 143/8 in 20 overs. Pacer Liam Plunkett scalped three wickets while Avesh Khan and Trent Boult chipped in with two each to hurt Punjab’s batting line-up.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the match:
Has India found a natural 'thinking' captain in @ashwinravi99 or do we still live in the false belief that bowlers don't make good captains? #DDvKXIP
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) April 23, 2018
I thought the key to the defence of 143 was an excellent 19th over by Barinder Sran that gave Mujeeb enough in the bank to defend.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 23, 2018
Close call for #KXIP. Spare a thought for Shreyas Iyer, played his heart out today #Respect #DDvKXIP
— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) April 23, 2018
Gutsy! @ashwinravi99 is a gutsy skipper. What a win for @lionsdenkxip. With the kind of firepower at the top we know that they can win with their batting but to defend 143 is something fantastic. A top contender already? #DDvKXIP
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) April 23, 2018
Great effort from @lionsdenkxip bowlers to defend 143 at Feroz Shah Kotla. Congratulations #KXIP & @ashwinravi99 #DDvKXIP
— Rajeev Shukla (@ShuklaRajiv) April 23, 2018
Yet another closely contested game in the tournament. Terrific effort by @lionsdenkxip bowlers to pull this one off tonight. #DDVKXIP #IPL2018
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) April 23, 2018
Wassup Delhi, such harebrained battng?!
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 23, 2018
Great finished @Mujeeb_Zadran👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
— Mohammad Nabi (@MohammadNabi007) April 23, 2018
What a thrilling win at the capital 😍
Top of the table once again.#DDvKXIP #LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi pic.twitter.com/UO9RVLpvhX— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) April 23, 2018
Delhi Despairdevils #DDvKXIP
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 23, 2018
man,seriously there's something VERY WRONG with @DelhiDaredevils lost a low scoring match despite having good batsmen like gambhir,maxwell. management have to think on it seriously atleast now #DDvKXIP #dildilli
— K (@tweetsbyhk) April 23, 2018
Preity Zinta after looking at the points table#DelhiDaredevils #KingsXIPunjab #KXIPvsDD #KXIPvDD #DDvsKXIP #DDvKXIP #IPL2018 pic.twitter.com/XMuRNC0LQA
— Baklol Bhoora (@BaklolBhoora) April 23, 2018
Preity Zinta all smiles after the nail-biter. #IPL #IPL2018 #DDvKXIP pic.twitter.com/11APcLUOtX
— Sport (@CricketUrdu) April 23, 2018
Preity Zinta burns more calories in a Kings XI Punjab’s match than Yuvraj Singh does. #DDvKXIP
— Shridhar V (@iimcomic) April 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/dc_bjp/status/988484896317411328
What a win by Kings 11…GG’s DD fails an easy test…1st team to go out of IPL 11…??? Think they will have to win 7 out of 8 remaining matches as said by GG to qualify for play off’s
— Samip Rajguru (@samiprajguru) April 23, 2018
What a win for Punjab. Fear Delhi are once again finding ways to lose a game.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 23, 2018
Delhi Daredevils favorite position on the points table.#IPL pic.twitter.com/KqyPM5lxWK
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 23, 2018
Delhi Daredevils to the 8th Spot. #DDvKXIP pic.twitter.com/gnoWSHgHPu
— Sagar (@sagarcasm) April 23, 2018
