A key partnership from David Warner and Unmukt Chand helped the Delhi Daredevils pickup their second straight victory of IPL 2013 and with it leaving Kolkata Knight Riders' hopes of making the playoffs in tatters.
A solid bowling performance from the Daredevils in the first innings in Raipur, helped the home side restrict KKR to 136 for seven, which was comfortably overhauled by DD, thanks to an unbeaten half-century by Warner (62).
Chand gave the left-hander good company, scoring 37 runs of his own, in a 95-run partnership which took the game away from KKR, as the Daredevils finished on 137 for three in 17.5 overs for a seven-wicket victory.
The Daredevils now join KKR on six points, with their third win in ten matches, the same record as the defending champions, who will now, need to win their remaining six games to finish in the top four.
This was the perfect chance for the Daredevils to go on a winning run, after posting a victory over Pune Warriors in their last match, but they made it difficult for themselves by losing openers Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene early.
Both players were caught in the slips, with Sehwag the first man dismissed after edging one to Yusuf off Kallis. Balaji then induced the outside edge of Jayawardene in the next over, with Kallis this time taking the catch in the slips, leaving the Daredevils on 27 for two.
However, from there it was one-way traffic as David Warner and Unmukt Chand took the Daredevils to the target with relative ease, putting together the match-winning partnership for the third wicket.
The whole of India has been waiting for Chand to play an innings of some relevance since the start of IPL 2013, when he was castled by KKR fast bowler Brett Lee in the first ball of the season.
Chand (37, 39b, 4x4) has been underwhelming in this tournament so far, but on Wednesday against KKR, the talented youngster showed patience and composure to stay in the middle with the more experienced Warner and see his side close to the target.
The young right-hander holed out with Daredevils needing just 15 runs more, which Warner (62, 41b, 5x4, 3x6) and Rohrer chased down comfortably without any further hiccups.
The first innings was a train-wreck for KKR in the first ten overs, before some patient batting and last-minute hitting edged them towards a decent total.
Gautam Gambhir and Manvinder Bisla walked out to bat after winning the toss, and the KKR skipper was trudging back to the pavilion after just two deliveries and without facing a single ball. The KKR openers went for an ill-advised drop-and-run, with bowler Irfan Pathan reacting quickly, picking up the ball and running Gambhir out with a direct hit at the striker's end.
Umesh Yadav castled Manvinder Bisla in the third over, before some brilliant fielding from the Daredevils put KKR in trouble.
Morne Morkel came back after being hit for a maximum by Yusuf, by dismissing the slugger off the very next ball. Yusuf (20, 16b, 2x4, 1x6) went for another big strike, but only managed a skier, which was brilliantly caught by the KKR batsman's brother Irfan.
Eoin Morgan (10, 9b, 2x4) was the next to go, caught nicely in the deep by Yadav off Shahbaz Nadeem.
Soon after, Kallis (12 in 15) was walking back to the pavilion, thanks to a stunning one-handed grab at full stretch by Ben Rohrer at point off Irfan.
KKR had their backs to the wall at that point on 50 for five from 8.3 overs. Debabrata Das (18) and Rajat Bhatia (26, 26b, 2x4), though, put together a patient partnership of 34 runs from a little under seven overs.
The alliance was crucial in giving the defending champions any chance of posting a total beyond 120, and that proved to be the case with Sumit Narwal (23, 15b, 4x4) and Brett Lee (16, 6b, 2x6) taking toll in the final overs to take the champions to a respectable 136 for seven.
