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Chandigarh: Quinton de Kock and Sanju Samson played excellent knocks but the Kings XI Punjab bowlers did phenomenally at the death to keep Delhi Daredevilsat bay by 9 runs in Match 36 of Indian Premier League 2016 at PCA stadium Mohali on Saturday.
The DD opening stand was worth 70 in just less than 8 overs, and was dominated by de Kock. The left-hander struck 6 fours and 2 sixes in a 30-ball 52 to get DD off to a great start. Samson was a bit slow to start things off, but once he got set he too unfurled some attractive shots.
Samson took over from de Kock after the latter’s dismissal, and he ended up missing a well-deserved fifty by just 1 run. His 49 cost 35 balls and included 4 fours and 1 six. Samson was involved in a crucial 51-run alliance with Karun Nair, who was happy to play second fiddle. Once Samson was dismissed, hitting Stoinis to Glenn Maxwell at long on, Karun tried to up his scoring rate.
However, he was unable to find the middle of his bat and ended up holing out to David Miller off KC Cariappa.
Sam Billings and Carlos Brathwaite were then left with a challenging but far from impossible task of scoring 48 off 27 balls. Neither batsman was able to time the ball initially, and at one stage the required run rate went over 12.
The pressure got to Billings, who edged a slower ball from Stoinis to the wicketkeeper. He had eaten up 9 balls to make just 6 runs. DD now needed 40 off the last 3 overs.
Earlier, Marcus Stoinis and Wriddhiman Saha scored terrific half-centuries as KXIP surged to a competitive 181 for 5.
Murali Vijay gave KXIP some early momentum, hitting 4 fours in a 16-ball 25. He was dismissed after being brilliantly caught by Carlos Brathwaite off Chris Morris.
Stoinis may have scored a half-century but he was far from perfect. In Shahbaz Nadeem’s third over, which was the seventh of the innings, Stoinis and Amla were nearly out once respectively thanks to some terrible miscommunication.
Brief scores
Kings XI Punjab - 181/5 (Saha 52, Stoinis 52, Morris 2-30)
Delhi Daredevils - 172/5 (de Kock 52, Samson 49, Stoinis 3-40)
Result - Kings XI Punjab won by 9 runs
