2014 IPL 7th Season Kings XI Punjab became the 1st team to confirm their seat in the playoffs with a 4-wicket win over bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils.
Kings XI Punjab also suffered a few hiccups after a classically blistering start and despite experimenting with their batting order, got home in the last over with 2 balls to spare.
Akshar Patel, the unlikely hero with the bat for Kings XI, was well set on 41 off 34 balls when Rishi Dhawan joined him.
Kings XI Punjab openers, Virender Sehwag and Manan Vohra excellent 67 off 6.2 overs with Vohra the more dominant partner. It was another of those days in which Glenn Maxwell and David Miller failed.
After being put in, Kevin Pietersen and D.Karthik were commanding in their stand of 71 for the 2nd wicket.
Dinesh Karthik was not afraid to play bold shots off the seamers, such as his sweep off Sandeep Sharma that went flat over square leg. Kevin Pietersen took 18 off an over from Beuran Hendricks and by the end of ten overs Delhi Daredevils were at a comfortable 84 for 1.
Their best finishers, JP Duminy and Kedar Jadhav failed and the blame fell on Dinesh Karthik for late acceleration. Dinesh Karthik departed for 69 caught at deep square leg; his was the 4th wicket to go down in the space of nine balls.
Score Details
Delhi Daredevils-164/7(20)
Kings XI Punjab-165/6(19.4)
Player of the match
A Patel
