Kings XI Punjab defeated Delhi Daredevils by six wickets and kept their hopes alive to qualify for the semifinals of IPL. Daredevils have already made into the semis with 16 points while yesterday's (May 15) victory has pushed up Kings XI to sixth place with 12 points. Apart from Punjab, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Deccan Chargers also have 12 points each. The battle for semi-final intensifies as the tournament progresses.

 

Chasing a modest total of 121 runs to win Kings XI achieved the runs in 19.1 over for the loss of four wickets. The top scorer Kumar Sangakkara remained not out on 43 to guide Kings XI Punjab to victory. The Daredevils bowlers were exceptional with their line and length as they forced the Punjab batsmen to fight hard for achieving the total. Pacer Ashish Nehra was almost unplayable and he gave only six runs in his 4 overs apart from picking up a wicket. Farveez Maharoof took two wickets by conceding 29 runs.

 

Earlier, Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh won the toss and elected to field first. The bowlers of Kings XI also put up a great show with Brett Lee leading from the front. Lee claimed three wicket by giving away only 15 runs. Apart from the Aussie fast bowler, Irfan Pathan and S Sreesanth got two wickets each. Irafan Pathan also performed well with the bat by scoring brisk 21 runs off 11 balls that helped the Punjab team to seal the victory.

 

The openers of Daredevils failed drastically. Skipper Virender Sehwag could score only 9 runs while Gautam Gambhir got run out with individual score of 8 runs. However, wicketkeeper batman Dinesh Karthik (32) and Mithun Manhas (26) played some good shots to help Daredevils put up a respectable total on the board. Kings XI will now have to win their last two matches by big margins to improve their run rate but their semi-final hopes will largely depend on the outcome of other games.