Daredevils crush Knight Riders, move to top of IPL table

posted under by NSmurthy
Johannesburg: Delhi Daredevils produced a clinical performance to crush Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets in their Indian Premier League (IPL) tie here on Sunday.

Chasing a meagre 124 runs, Daredevils romped home in 17.1 overs with AB de Villiers smashing 40 after David Warner (36) and Gautam Gambhir (18) laid the foundation.
Daredevils thus moved to the top of IPL standings with 14 points in nine matches, dislodging Chennai Super Kings.
Knight Riders again lost their way in the batting with Amit Mishra claiming three wickets, though Sourav Ganguly (44) and Ajit Agarkar (39) gave the bowlers something to defend.
The total was always going to be too small for a strong batting side like Daredevils.
Daredevils got off to a good start through Warner, who struck five fours and one six, and skipper Gambhir. They put on 53 runs in 40 balls.
Knight Riders sensed an opening as Gambhir and Warner fell within a space of two overs and then Tillekaratane Dilshan was out to a brilliant piece of catching by Moises Henriques in the deep.
But de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik (17 not out) carefully negotiated through the middle overs even as some catches and run-out chances went abegging.
De Villiers then hit a flurry of strokes to finish the match.
Earlier, Knight Riders made another shocking start, losing two wickets in the very first over.
Skipper Brendon McCullum hit a second ball six off Ashish Nehra, before the bad patch caught on with him and he was out lbw in the next ball.

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