Kings XI won their battle against Delhi Daredevils and almost booked their spot for the semi finals. In the rain curtailed match, the Duckworth-Lewis system favored the visiting team in the end.
Delhi Daredevils were 94 for 1 in 8.1 overs when rain stopped play with Sehgwa on 47 and Dhawan on 1. When the match resumed, the overs were reduced to 11 per side. Delhi ended their innings at 118 for 4. Sehwag scored a quick fire 50 of 23 balls with 2 fours and 5 sixes.
Earlier, Gambhir, played his part by hammering all over the ground. He scored 40 off 28 balls before being bowled by Romesh Pawar.
For Kings XI, as per the Duckworth-Lewis calculations, the target was revised to 123 in 11 overs. Hopes' last over reduced the chasing target as he picked two crucial wickets and gave away just 3 runs.
Chasing 123, the first over by McGrath had only 3 runs in the board. Marsh was brilliantly at cover. Shoaib Malik and Dhawan went for the catch and finally without colliding each other Dhawan took a good catch. Dangerous batsman gone!
Yuvaraj Singh promoted himself for number 3. The powerplay has been redued to 3 overs he planned to use it for himself. He hit a four to fine leg and a six over backward point. Momentum given by the skipper!
109 required off 54 balls.
McGrath finally got his piece in the IPL. He went for 15 runs with two huge sixes--one over long off and the other one over square leg. McGrath got Yuvaraj Singh brilliantly caught by Maharoof in the boundary. He mistimed the short ball and hit it over long on where Maharoof took a good catch. Yuvaraj scored 23 off 8 balls with 1 four and 3 sixes.
Hopes got out in the next over, trying to hit a six was caught at long on by Shoaib Malik off Mishra.
At the end of four overs, Kings XI were 34 for 3 with 90 more to get in 7 overs.
With wickets falling and having curtailed the run rate, and it was raining, Sehwag wanted to finish the 5 overs so that the result can be brought in to the game.
He bowled the 5th over, which turned very costly for Delhi.
Jayawardane sterred the first ball to third man boundary; The second ball was a wide; rebowled second ball was a reverse sweep to third man boundary; third ball was a boundary to fine leg, it was swept well; fourth ball was a single; fifth ball was a huge six over deep midwicket by Pomersbach; last ball was two runs. This over added 22 runs and gave the second momentum to Kings XI.
End of 5 overs, Kings XI were 56 for 3 with 68 off 6 overs. At this stage, if the match was stopped due to rain, it would have been a tie as Kings XI were supposed to be at 57 for a win.
The sixth over by Mishra added 17 to the total including two sixes--one by Jayawardane over mid wicket and the other by Pomersbach again over mid wicket.
51 required off 5 overs; Maharoof's over added 12 to the total including a six by Pomersbach over square leg. It has started raining.
39 required of 24 balls; Kings XI has a chance here to win;
Bhatia bowled the 8th over giving just 3 runs in the first 5 balls. It was raining heavily now. If the match is stopped, the scores are equal. But the match is going on; Jayawardane hit a six of the last ball of the 8th over to take the score to 94, 6 runs beyond Delhi's score.
Umpires discuss and ask the players to leave; the batsmen left the ground; Delhi team couldn't believe, still in the ground expecting the umpires to call the batsmen; the groundsmen did not bring the covers despite umpires call to do so; Yuvaraj Singh comes to the centre asking the groundsmen to put the covers in the pitch.
Finally, Kings XI Punjab win by 6 runs--strange that a team batting second wins by runs.
Man of the Match List
Points Table
Score Table
Match 40
Venue: Delhi
Date: May 17, 2008
Teams: Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab
Captains: Virendra Segwag and Yuvaraj Singh
Toss: Delhi Daredevils and decided to bat
Result: Kings XI Punjab won by 6 runs (D/L Method) (with 7 wickets in hand)
Man of the Match: DPMD Jayawardane off Kings XI Punjab (Sri Lanka)
Points: Kings XI Punjab-2; Delhi Daredevils-0
Score:
Delhi Daredevils 118 for 4 in 11 overs (G Gambhir 40, V Sehwag 51 not out, S Dhawan 8, TM Dilshan 8, MF Maharoof 0, Shoaib Malik 1 not out, Extras-10 (lb 2, wide 7, nb 1), S Sreesanth 3-0-33-0, IK Pathan 2-0-13-0, VRV Singh 2-0-33-0, RR Powar 2-0-22-2, PP Chawla 1-0-13-0, JR Hopes 1-0-2-2) lost to Kings XI Punjab (revised target as per D/L Method-123 in 11 overs; when rain stopped play in the 8th over last ball, they should have been in 89 with the loss of 3 wickets) 94 for 3 in 8 overs (SE Marsh 2, JR Hopes 4, Yuvraj Singh 23, DPMD Jayawardene 36 not out, LA Pomersbach 25 not out, Extras-4 (lb 2, wide 2), GD McGrath 2-0-18-1, P Sangwan 1-0-12-1, A Mishra 2-0-21-1, V Segwag 1-0-22-0, MF Maharoof 1-0-11-0, R Bhatia 1-0-8-0)
