
Dharamsala: On a dark day that seriously threatened the IPL's credibility, Kings XI Punjab maintained their focus of trying to make it to the play-offs with a seven-run win over Delhi Daredevils at their second home of Dharamsala. Delhi picked five bowlers and opted to field but the desired impact was sorely missing as Punjab's big three batsmen produced busy innings to drive the score to 171 for 4, which ended up being too much for a jittery Delhi batting line-up.
At this very picturesque venue in 2011, Punjab had beaten Delhi to keep their campaign alive. Tonight, needing a win to remain in the hunt for the play-offs, Punjab found inspiration from the top in the form of Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh before David Miller roared back to form with a brutal unbeaten 44 off 24 balls.
Gilchrist received a slice of luck on 8 when he uppercut Morne Morkel to third man where Umesh Yadav spilled a catch. He grabbed that chance by taking three boundaries - two over mid-off and the other slashed over slip - and two sixes off Ashish Nehra, lofting down the ground and slashing over deep point as Punjab took 53 off the Powerplay.
Gilchrist's punchy innings ended on 42 when he skied a return catch to Irfan Pathan and four overs later Azhar Mahmood departed for 9 when well held on the boundary by Siddarth Kaul off Nehra. Marsh pulled out a few pleasing shots

11:31 PM, May 16, 2013