Daredevils moves to the top with easy win

Johannesburg: Delhi Daredevils moved to the top of the table — the side has 14 points from nine matches — with a seven-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL duel at the Wanderers on Sunday.

Knight Riders has three points from 10 games.

Chasing 124, Daredevils was guided home by Abraham de Villiers (40 not out) and Dinesh Karthik (17 not out). The fourth-wicket pair batted sensibly and ran hard between the wickets after Knight Riders picked up three quick wickets.

The opening pair had rattled up 53 runs when paceman Moises Henriques had Gautam Gambhir (18) caught at point in the seventh over. The impressive David Warner (36, 23b, 5x4, 1x6) swatted Ishant Sharma past the long-on fence but was soon snared by the paceman outside the off-stump.

Tillekeratne Dilshan fell in the same over — the ninth of the innings — pulling Ishant only to be held splendidly, close to the ropes by Henriques. The score was 69 for three when de Villiers and Karthik joined forces.

Nehra strikes

Earlier, Ashish Nehra struck twice in the first over of the contest after Knight Riders was inserted. The left-arm paceman was pulled for a six by Brendon McCullum but won a contentious leg-before decision over the Knight Riders captain with his next legitimate delivery.

Nehra dismissed the in-form Brad Hodge with his final delivery, the batsman edging an attempted drive to be pouched at slip.

Daredevils kept finding wickets. van Wyk could not keep a pull off Dirk Nannes down and was picked up at short square-leg. Left-armer Nannes bowled with verve, hitting the right areas and giving little away.

Sourav Ganguly (44, 45b, 1x4, 2x6) fought hard – the left-hander dismissed Nehra over covers for a six – but leg-spinner Amit Mishra made further inroads.

Mishra prised out Yashpal Singh with flight and spin and got Wriddhiman Saha top-edging an attempted sweep.

He foxed Henriques with a googly for Karthik to pull off a smart stumping.

Ganguly whipped Mishra beyond the ropes but was held in the deep off Nannes.

The free-stroking Agarkar (39, 29b, 3x4, 2x6) provided Knight Riders much-needed runs.

scoreboard

Kolkata Knight Riders: B. McCullum lbw b Nehra 6 (3b, 1x6), S. Ganguly c Warner b Nannes 44 (45b, 1x4, 2x6), B. Hodge c de Villiers b Nehra 0 (3b), M. van Wyk c Bhatia b Nannes 0 (2b), Yashpal Singh c Bhatia b Mishra 13 (20b, 2x4), W. Saha c Karthik b Mishra 0 (1b), M. Henriques st. Karthik b Mishra 2 (8b), A. Agarkar c Manhas b Sangwan 39 (29b, 3x4, 2x6), M. Kartik (not out) 11 (10b), Extras (lb-2, w-5, nb-1): 8; Total (for eight wkts. in 20 overs): 123.

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-7, 3-9, 4-45, 5-46, 6-56, 7-88, 8-123.

Delhi Daredevils bowling: Nehra 4-0-29-2, Nannes 4-0-15-2, Sangwan 3-0-32-1, Dilshan 4-0-18-0, Mishra 4- 0-14-3, Bhatia 1-0-13-0.

Delhi Daredevils: G. Gambhir c Hodge b Henriques 18 (24b, 3x4), D. Warner c van Wyk b Ishant 36 (23b, 5x4, 1x6), A.B. de Villiers (not out) 40 (32b, 5x4), T. Dilshan c Henriques b Ishant 1 (2b), D. Karthik (not out) 17 (22b), Extras (b-2, lb-5, w-6): 13; Total (for three wkts. in 17.1 overs): 125.

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-66, 3-69.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Ishant 4-0-23-2, Henriques 4-0-35-1, Agarkar 3-0-19-0, Sarkar 1.1-0-19-0, Hodge 1-0-2-0, Kartik 4-0-20-0.