Warner, KKR fielding give Delhi third win

Raipur, May 1 (IANS):

An unbeaten 66 of 42 balls by David Warner and fielding proved to be the difference as Delhi Daredevils beat Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets for their second successive win in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium here Wednesday.

The new stadium here seems to be a happy hunting ground for the Daredevils. After winning just one match elsewhere in the entire tournament, they have won the last two matches played here.

Delhi through some brilliant fielding restricted the Knight Riders to 136 for seven. Kolkata on the other hand were abysmal in the field, they dropped four easy catches and were made to pay as the Daredevils cruised to 137 for three in just 17.5 overs.

After losing Virender Sehwag (17) and Mahela Jayawardene (5) cheaply, David Warner (66 not out) and Unmukt Chand (37) came to the party. The duo put on a partnership of 95 runs for the fourth wicket taking Delhi to within touching distance.

Warner, though, was lucky to still be at the crease after Bisla missed an easy stumping chance and then Kallis gave him another reprieve dropping him on the long on boundary.

Kolkata, electing to bat, lost captain Gautam Gambhir in the first over, becoming the fifth batsman to be dismissed without facing a ball in the IPL, run out by Irfan Pathan.

Manvinder Bisla (4) could not repeat his heroics of the previous match against the Chennai Super Kings where he scored 92. Bisla after hitting a stylish boundary in the first over became to eager to hit another big shot and was cleaned up by Umesh Yadav.)

Yusuf Pathan (20) and Jacques Kallis’ (12) batting woes continued as both of them fell courtesy some stunning catching by Irfan Pathan and Ben Rohrer respectively.

Yadav held on to another tough catch as Eoin Morgan (10) too failed to impress.

With Kolkata 48 for four, Debabrata Das (18) and Rajat Bhatia (26 not out) strung together a crucial 34-run stand for the sixth wicket.

Sumit Narwal came in and made batting look easy smashing four fours as he scored 23 off 15. His and Brett Lee’s innings, who smacked 16 off 6 balls, gave the innings a much needed push and took them to a fighting total.

The following is the scoreboard of the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium here Wednesday.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Manvinder Bisla b Yadav 4

Gautam Gambhir run out (Pathan) 0

Yusuf Pathan c Pathan b Morkel 20

Jacques Kallis c Rohrer b Pathan 12

Eoin Morgan c Yadav b Nadeem 10

Debabrata Das c Jadhav b Nehra 18

Rajat Bhatia not out 26

Sumit Narwal c Chand b Yadav 23

Brett Lee not out 16

Extras (lb 2, w 5) 7

Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs) 136

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Gambhir, 0.2 overs), 2-16 (Bisla, 2.2), 3-37 (Pathan, 5.5), 4-48 (Morgan, 7.4), 5-50 (Kallis, 8.3), 6-84 (Das, 15.2), 7-114 (Narwal, 18.2)

Bowling:

Irfan Pathan 4-0-16-1

Ashish Nehra 4-0-37-1

Umesh Yadav 4-0-36-2

Morne Morkel 4-0-22-1

Shahbaz Nadeem 4-1-23-1

Delhi Daredevils

Mahela Jayawardene c Kallis b Balaji 5

Virender Sehwag c Pathan b Kallis 17

Unmukt Chand c Balaji b Lee 37

David Warner not out 62

Ben Rohrer not out 14

Extras (lb 1, w 1) 2

Total (for three wickets in 17.5 overs) 137

Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Sehwag, 3.4 overs), 2-27 (Jayawardene, 4.1), 3-122 (Chand, 16.5)

Bowling:

Brett Lee 4-0-26-1

Lakshmipathy Balaji 4-0-35-1

Jacques Kallis 3-0-29-1

Sunil Narine 4-0-14-0

Rajat Bhatia 2-0-21-0

Yusuf Pathan 0.5-0-11-0

Toss: Kolkata Knight Riders, who chose to bat

Result: Delhi Daredevils won by seven wickets

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (Sri Lanka) and CK Nandan

TV umpire: S Ravi

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka)