IPL 7 KXIP vs DD: KXIP defeat DD by 7 wickets

Mohali: Kings XI Punjab defeated Delhi Daredevils by 7 wickets in the final group league encounter of the Indian Premier League here on Sunday.

Delhi Daredevils' final innings was as woeful as their opening one as they managed only a below-par 115 in 18.1 overs against table-toppers Kings XI Punjab in an inconsequential IPL encounter, here today.

Kevin Pietersen (58) finally got a half-century that had nine boundaries with a few bearing testimony of the vintage 'KP' but his teammates again showed that most of them didn't have the application nor the zeal to finish with their heads held high.

In the end, they were all-out with as many as 11 balls to spare. Parvinder Awana, Mitchell Johnson, Akshar Patel and Karanveer Singh got two wickets each.

Save their skipper, none of the other Delhi batsmen scored above 15 leave alone a quickfire 20 plus score. Mayank Agarwal (2) once again played an irresponsible shot as has been the case with him in this edition and was caught by Virender Sehwag off Johnson.

With 115 runs from eight games, there would always be questions raised whether the Bangalore boy deserved a chance in the playing XI after so many failures.

Dinesh Karthik (13) had three boundaries but closed his bat face off Awana to give a simple catch to Akshar Patel. Save an odd performance here and there, the Tamil Nadu stumper didn't inspire any confidence whatsoever infront or behind the stumps.

Kedar Jadhav (0) being promoted up the order tried to hit Awana over mid-off but Manan Vohra took a smart overhead catch to reduce Daredevils  to 44 for three at the end of Powerplay.

Manoj Tiwary (8) was a victim of a mix-up as non-striker Kevin Pietersen ran straight to the batsman's end without looking at the point fielder, who lobbed it back to the bowler at the non-striker's end to do the needful.

JP Duminy (8) tried a sweep shot when a delivery from leggie Karanveer bounced a tad too much and an easy catch was taken by Akshar Patel at short cover.

Pietersen was then adjudged leg-before trying to play Rishi Dhawan across the line although replays showed that the ball might have drifted down leg-side. The former England captain faced 41 balls for his 58.

Squads:

Kings XI Punjab: George Bailey (c), Virender Sehwag, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Akshar Patel, Thisara Perera, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha, Manan Vohra, Anureet Singh, Parvinder Awana, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Rishi Dhawan, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Beuran Hendricks, Mitchell Johnson, Karanveer Singh, Murali Kartik, Mandeep Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Shivam Sharma, Shardul Thakur.

Delhi Daredevils: Kevin Pietersen (C), Mayank Agarwal, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, S Kaul, Milind Kumar, Mohammed Shami, S Nadeem, Jimmy Neesham, Wayne Parnell, H Sharath, R Sharma, Laxmiratan Shukla, R Shukla, Ross Taylor, Manoj Tiwary, S Tiwary, Jaydev Unadkat, M Vijay, J Yadav, Imran Tahir.

SCORECBOARD:

Delhi Daredevils: K. Pietersen lbw b Dhawan 58, M. Agarwal c Sehwag b Johnson 2, D. Karthik c Patel b Awana 13, K. Jadhav c Vohra b Awana 0, M. Tiwary (run out) 8, JP Duminy c Patel b Karanveer 8, J. Neesham c Bailey b Karanveer 12, S. Nadeem (not out) 3, Mohammed Shami b Patel 0, Imran Tahir c Dhawan b Patel 4, J. Unadkat c Maxwell b Johnson 0. Extras (lb1, w6) 7. Total (in 18.1 overs) 115.

Fall of Wicket: 1-13, 2-44, 3-44, 4-67, 5-91, 6-93, 7-110, 8-111, 9-115.

Bowling: Awana 3-1-15-2, Patel 4-0-28-2, Johnson 3.1-0-27-2, Karanveer 4-0-22-2, Dhawan 4-0-22-1.

Kings XI Punjab: V. Sehwag c Karthik b Shami 9, M. Vohra b Tahir 47, G. Maxwell c Pietersen b Unadkat 0, D. Miller (not out) 47, G. Bailey (not out) 1. Extras (lb5, w10) 15. Total (for three wickets in 13.5 overs) 119.

Fall of Wicket: 1-13, 2-16, 3-112.

Bowling: Shami 3-0-26-1, Unadkat 2-0-3-1, Neesham 1-0-14-0, Duminy 2-0-15-0, Tahir 3.5-0-32-1, Nadeem 2-0-24-0.