Delhi end Kings XI hopes, Knight Riders clinch second
KINGS XI Punjab missed out on IPL play-offs after a dominant display with bat and ball earned the Delhi Daredevils a comprehensive win. New-ball pair Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav combined for seven wickets as Kings XI, needing to win to prolong their season, were restricted to 141 for eight.
David Warner then smashed 79 from 44 balls as the already-qualified Daredevils eased to a six-wicket success with almost two overs to spare.
Yadav took three for 19 as the home team crashed to 20 for four. Siddharth Chitnis (38), Azhar Mahmood (36) and Gurkeerat Singh, with 26 from 11 balls, fought back but Morkel removed the latter two and finished with four for 20.
Andre Russell, though, returned shocking figures of one for 51 after Mahmood and Singh took five boundaries from his last over.
Warner and Unmukt Chand put on 82 to kick-start Delhi’s reply before the latter fell for 18.
The Australian hit his first ball for six and hit three more maximums in one Parvinder Awana over, despite one of the intervening deliveries breaking his bat, as he took just 25 balls to bring up his half-century.
By the time he was dismissed, having hit 10 fours in addition to those four sixes, only 33 runs were needed and Venugopal Rao (21 n.o.) saw them to 145 for four.
Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders eased to a 34-run victory over Pune Warriors in their last game of the regular season to seal second place in the overall standings.
Shakib Al Hasan top-scored with 42 for playoff-bound Kolkata but they could only set a target of 136 from their 20 overs with opening batsman Brendan McCullum weighing in with 41.
The Warriors’ run chase immediately faltered when Robin Uthappa fell for eight to spinner Iqbal Abdulla before they stuttered to 102 for eight, Jesse Ryder top-scoring with just 22.
Captain Sourav Ganguly managed only five as his side slumped to their ninth consecutive defeat with Al Hasan, the pick of Kolkata’s bowlers, picking up two for 18 from his four overs. (PA Sport)