Kings XI Punjab notched up their most-convincing win in IPL history after they dismissed the Delhi Daredevils for 67 and then chased down the runs in 7.5 overs, without losing a wicket in the run-chase. The win was KXIP’s first 10-wicket win in the IPL and it extended DD’s run of consecutive defeats to five matches.
After asking the visitors to bat first on a sticky pitch at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, KXIP’s Sandeep Sharma struck once in each of his first three overs to reduce the visitors to 22-3. Sandeep hit the fuller lengths, got the ball to move around, and sent back Sam Billings, Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer before the powerplay overs had been bowled; Billings edged an outswinger to the wicketkeeper, Samson played too early and the leading edge was pouched by mid-off, while an acrobatic return catch by Sandeep on his left-side pulled the shutters on Shreyas’ innings.
After the early damage caused, and seeing the ball stop on the pitch, Axar Patel was handed the ball in the sixth over, and with the captain Glenn Maxwell rolling his arm over, the two spinners further put the brakes on the scoring; Axar struck twice – including dismissing the Delhi Daredevils captain Karun Nair – off the first ball he bowled, while Maxwell dismissed Rishabh Pant leg before wicket.
Corey Anderson’s 18 was the top-score of the DD innings and his 26-run partnership with Kagiso Rabada was the highest for the visitors. Varun Aaron, introduced into the attack in the fifteenth over, broke that partnership with his first delivery when Anderson dragged the ball back onto the stumps. Sandeep returned for his final over and dismissed Rabada; the KXIP pacer finished figures of 4-0-20-4, his career-best bowling figures in T20 cricket.
After Aaron had dismissed Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma polished off the innings when he gleefully accepted Shahbaz Nadeem’s top-edged return catch. The Delhi Daredevils were bowled out for 67 – their lowest total in the IPL; the innings lasted only 17.1 overs.
Martin Guptill and Hashim Amla had the freedom to play their strokes given they were faced with a small target. The pair made their intentions of wanting to finish the chase quickly when Guptill collected two boundaries in the first over – one over extra cover and one cut away through point. Amla drove Rabada for an extra-cover boundary in the second over, while Guptill collected two boundaries off the South African in the fourth over.
Guptill muscled a six down the ground and KXIP collected eleven off the fifth over bowled by South Africa’s Chris Morris. The pair brought up the 50-run partnership at the end of six overs. Guptill cruised the home stretch as he hit Amit Mishra and Shahbaz Nadeem for huge sixes in the seventh and eighth overs.
The Kiwi batsman collected a single off the fifth ball of the eighth over to complete the run-chase, in the process also scoring his first half-century in the IPL. Guptill finished unbeaten on 50 (27 balls, 6 fours and 3 sixes), while Amla made 16 (20 balls, 1 boundary). KXIP had completed the run-chase with 73 balls remaining – the fourth-most convincing run chase in the history of the IPL. (IPLT20)
