Delhi Daredevils flattered to deceive yet again, crashing to a five-wicket loss to the impressive Kings XI Punjab in their IPL 2013 encounter at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
After pulling off an impressive nine-wicket win over the Mumbai Indians, to pick up their first victory of the tournament, the expectations were high, but the much-vaunted Daredevils batting lineup failed to deliver, only managing a below-par 120 for seven in their 20 overs.
Kings XI did not have too many problems in overhauling the target, finishing up on 121 for five with three overs to spare.
The win keeps Kings XI very much in the hunt for a playoff place, having taken their fourth victory in seven games, while the Daredevils remain rock bottom with just one win from eight.
The chase did not begin well for Kings XI, as Adam Gilchrist yet again failed, falling in the third delivery of the innings, top-edging one off Irfan Pathan with Johan Botha taking the catch at cover.
Mandeep Singh, who played such a nice innings in Kings XI's win over the Pune Warriors a couple of days back, continued his good form, smashing three fours off Ashish Nehra's first over, before taking another two off Pathan in the next.
Luke Pomersbach also chipped in in the Pathan over - the third over of the innings -- going for 19 runs as Kings XI raced to the 50-run mark in just 4.3 overs.
However, IPL 2013 has been about low-scoring thrillers, and no win can be taken for granted until the winning run is scored. Two wickets of consecutive deliveries in the fifth over brought the Daredevils back into the game.
Pomersbach (18, 10b, 3x4) was the first to go, castled by Roelof Van Der Merwe, before a needless run out saw Mandeep (24, 15b, 5x4) also making the walk back.
The run rate required though, was well under five, and Kings XI were really under no pressure to hit the boundaries, instead calmly collecting the runs through singles and twos.
Manan Vohra (8, 11b, 1x4) was caught and bowled by Johan Botha after adding 20 runs with David Miller, as Kings XI edged closer to the target.
David Hussey joined Miller, last game's man of the match, at the crease and the two batsmen looked to take their team to the target, before the former needlessly gave his wicket away for 20 (21b, 1x4, 1x6) with the score reading 110 for five.
Kings XI, though, needed just another 11 runs and Miller ensured there were no more hiccups, sealing a second consecutive win.
The first innings was a disaster for the Daredevils as the momentum, built from the brilliant run chase against Mumbai Indians, evaporated.
Mahela Jayawardene and Virender Sehwag had put on a century partnership in their previous innings, but this time the alliance was short-lived as Jayawardene was dismissed in the fourth ball of the first over.
The Daredevils skipper had just hit Praveen Kumar (two for 29) for a nice boundary over square-leg, but off the next delivery, which moved away, Jayawardene (4) only managed an outside edge with David Hussey at slip making no mistake.
Roelof Van Der Merwe was sent in at No.3 to pinch-hit, but the experiment came to nought as the South African all-rounder was caught at cover by Mandeep off Parwinder Awana.
Sehwag really needed to fire again, after his magnificent unbeaten 95 in the last game. However, after a couple of nice-looking boundaries, Sehwag (23, 21b, 2x4, 1x6) was walking back to the pavilion, with Mandeep again taking the catch at short cover off Harmeet Singh.
David Warner did his best to repair the innings, and in the company of Manprit Juneja, looked to take his side to a respectable total. The duo allied for 39 runs, but once three Daredevils wickets fell in the space of seven balls, the writing was on the wall.
Juneja was the first to go for a sedate 20-ball 14, before Harmeet (three for 24) picked up his second wicket of the over, sending back Kedar Jadhav for a duck with Mandeep competing another catch.
Johan Botha lasted only two deliveries, falling to Bhargav Bhatt after holing out at long-off to David Miller.
Warner (40, 36b, 4x4, 1x6) just did not have enough support at the other end, and once he was dismissed in the 18th over, Delhi just about managed to crawl to 120 for seven.
