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Durban: The race to the semifinals in the IPL has now been reduced to a contest between seven teams. On Tuesday evening, Knight Riders became the first side to be ousted and though they will have to finish their quota of remaining five matches, those will only be of academic interest.
Delhi, with a comprehensive nine-wicket win, roared to the top of the table with 10 points and are now firm favourites to clinch one of the four semifinal spots.
For once, it didn’t begin badly for the Knight Riders. Instead, the coin was tossed in their favour, they began their batting well, recorded their highest first-wicket partnership for this season, captain Brendon McCullum scored his highest so far and at 7.70 runs per over, the team reached 154 in 20 overs. Not a bad effort, or so it seemed before Delhi walked in reply.
Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir, the only top-order batsman not in form so far, cracked his first half-century, David Warner and T Dilshan got going like they have been at every given opportunity, the Knights bowled short and wide and the game soon got out of their control.
Brief Score: Delhi Daredevils 157/1 (Gambhir 71*, Dilshan 42*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 154/3 (van Wyk 74, Sangwan 2-29) by nine wickets.
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