A brilliant all-round display from Irfan Pathan helped Kings XI Punjab beat Delhi Daredevils by six wickets in a low-scoring contest of the Indian Premier League here today. Pathan, who picked up 2/22 during the Delhi Daredevils innings, blasted three sixes in his 11-ball unbeaten 21 and along with Kumar Sangakkara (43 not out off 47 balls), guided Punjab through with five balls balls to spare.
This was a match Kings XI Punjab needed to win to keep their semi-final hopes alive but chasing 121 for victory they put themselves into all sorts of trouble and at one point it looked their bowlers good work would come to nought.
The Punjab pace trio of Brett Lee (3/15), S Sreesanth (2/20) and Pathan vindicated skipper Yuvraj Singh's decision to field first by restricting the marauding Delhi Daredevils batsmen to 120 for nine.
With the wicket keeping low and slow the Delhi batsmen struggled and had it not been for the 50-run partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Mithun Manhas, they would have been in even more trouble.
Top-scorer Karthik (32 off 29 balls) and Manhas (26 off 25) fell trying to clear the ropes.
Lee, who gave away seven runs in his first over, bowled a superb spell, giving away just eight in his next three and picking up three wickets.
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