Gautam Gambhir's Knight Riders emerged on top in the battle of the table toppers and cruised their way to the top of the No.1 spot in the points table with a comfortable 6 wicket win over the Delhi Daredevils. Having won the toss, Delhi Daredevils decided to bat and the ominous pair of Virender Sehwag and David Warner arrived at the crease. The Daredevils got of to a flying start with Sehwag smashing the ball to all parts as Delhi notched up 30 just in the 3rd over. In the meantime, Sehwag went ahead of Rahane in the Orange Cap race after he hit Kallis for a 4. But Kallis got his team back in the game as he dismissed both Sehwag and Warner in consecutive overs to provide some relief to the KKR think tank. Jayawardene and Taylor grinded a partnership together although Taylor was not looking at his fluent best. It required a sensational piece of fielding from the KKR skipper Gambhir to get rid of Mahela for 30. Finally, Taylor was sent to the pavilion after struggling for a 27 ball 16. Irfan Pathan played the role of the aggressor in the death overs and got the Daredevils score past 150. Finally, DD finished on 153/9 with Lee and Narine taking 2 wickets each.
Kolkata Knight Riders had done their job well with the ball and restricted the strong DD batting line up to 153. Gambhir and McCullum gave the perfect start to the Kolkata Knight Riders innings and added 68 for the first wicket in just 7 overs. Just then, the comeback man Varun Aaron rattled the stumps of Gambhir for 36 and provided the much needed breakthrough. But there was no relief for the Delhi bowlers as McCullum and Kallis got the scoreboard moving and took them to the doorsteps of victory. Both of them were bounced out by Umesh Yadav in successive deliveries but till then the job had been done. Yusuf and and Debabrata Das ensured that the Kolkata Knight Riders got past the finishing line with 8 balls to spare. With this victory under their belt, KKR reserved their place in the play-offs and also went to the top spot in the points table.
DD-153/9 (20)
Irfan Pathan-36 (22)
Jayawardene-30 (27)
KKR-154/4 (18.4)
McCullum-56 (44)
Gambhir-36 (21)
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