In a battle of the bottom two sides, the Delhi Daredevils held their nerve to pull off a 15-run victory over the Pune Warriors in their IPL 2013 game at the Chattisgarh International Stadium in Raipur.
A brand new IPL crowd were treated to some fireworks from David Warner as the Daredevils posted a competitive total of 164 for five. Pune Warriors looked on course to overhauling the total, before some poor batting and good bowling saw the designated home side come through with two points, as the Warriors finished on 149 for four.
The Daredevils climb above the Pune Warriors from the bottom of the table with their second win in nine games, while Pune are now rock bottom with the same record but an inferior nett run rate.
Pune Warriors got off to a solid start, with openers Aaron Finch and Robin Uthappa combining for 76 runs for the first wicket.
Both batsmen had eerily similar scores, scoring 37 runs each from 33 balls, and since they were going neck-and-neck, they lost their wickets in the same over as well. Uthappa was the first to go, finding Chand at square leg off Irfan Pathan (two for 29).
Finch was unlucky to be dismissed off Pathan's last delivery in the 11th over, with the umpire giving the Pune Warriors captain out caught behind, when replays clearly showed it had come off his thigh pad.
From 76 for no loss, the Pune Warriors had gone to 78 for two, with the onus falling on Yuvraj Singh and Luke Wright to take their side past the target. The equation was 87 from nine overs when the two batsmen came together, and after a few nice boundaries, the target was reduced to 55 from the last five overs.
Eighteen runs and 12 deliveries later, the equation read 37 from the last three overs, before Umesh Yadav turned things around in the Daredevils' favour.
The speedster bowled a couple of dot balls, before dismissing Wright (19, 18b, 3x4), who holed out to Warner at long-off. The over went from good to brilliant when a quick short delivery from Yadav (two for 24) saw the back of the dangerous Yuvraj (31, 24b, 4x4), with Yadav conceding just two runs.
With 35 needed from the last two overs, Steven Smith was the Warriors' last hope, but it proved to be a little too difficult even for the Australian, as the Daredevils held on for their second win in IPL 2013.
Earlier, the Delhi Daredevils scrambled to 164 for five, thanks largely to the pyrotechnics from David Warner.
It was not Warner who opened the innings, though, with Daredevils skipper Mahela Jaywardene and Virender Sehwag batting at the top.
Neither openers could get going in the first four overs, and it came as no surprise when Jayawardene found Luke Wright at short cover of Ashok Dinda while going for an expansive drive.
Youngster Unmukt Chand walked into the middle to give Sehwag company, and slowly but surely the Delhi Dasher started to find the middle of the bat and with it the boundaries. Sehwag took Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six and a four off the sixth over, before doing it again two overs later, this time of Luke Wright.
However, the flow of runs from the blade of Sehwag (28, 26b, 2x4, 2x6) came to an end, when Dinda (three for 31) found the glove of the opener, with Uthappa taking the catch behind the stumps. Chand (17, 19b, 2x4) was walking back to the pavilion two balls later, outside edging a wide delivery from Rahul Sharma, while going for the cut shot.
David Warner and Ben Rohrer began the repair work, with the Daredevils on 68 for three, putting together 28 runs in 3.3 overs, before Warner, following Rohrer's dismissal, launched the final assault.
The Australian left-hander in the company of Kedar Jadhav (25, 19b, 2x6), pushed the Daredevils past the 160-mark, finishing on 51 from just 25 balls, which included four boundaries and four maximums.
