Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers set up their third win in four games, restricting Delhi Daredevils to 146 for 8. Gautam Gambhir then made his third half-century in four innings to consign the hosts to their ninth successive defeat at Feroz Shah Kotla.
Neither captain was sure at the toss about how the pitch, dry and grassy, would behave. Both wanted to chase; Gambhir won the toss. The ball seemed to come on decently, especially at the start, although Duminy felt the pitch deteriorated as the game progressed.
The Daredevils batsmen fell to poor strokes, and many of them came just when a partnership was starting to build. Opener Shreyas Iyer played some superb shots off the back foot but having motored to 31 off 24, was bowled after missing a slog at Piyush Chawla. That ended a third-wicket partnership of 36 with Manoj Tiwary.
Tiwary and Yuvraj Singh added 37 for the fourth wicket, the highest partnership of the game for Daredevils, but on 32, the Bengal batsman dragged a wide one from Morne Morkel straight to midwicket in the 14th over.
Daredevils dealt themselves another blow in the next over when Yuvraj strolled out after missing a sweep off Chawla and was stumped for 21 off 19. Angelo Mathews helped Daredevils take 43 off the last five overs, including 20 off Sunil Narine in the 19th. The offspinner had bowled a couple of tight overs before but was repeatedly slogged over midwicket at the death by Mathews and Kedar Jadhav. Umesh Yadav did not let Daredevils go past 150, giving away just three in the final over.
Gambhir and Robin Uthappa were in control of the chase when Domnic Joseph removed the latter and Manish Pandey in fifth over, both batsmen trying to force boundaries but failing to clear the fielders.
Suryakumar Yadav clubbed a few boundaries to add 48 with Gambhir, but it was the Knight Riders captain who piloted the chase. Putting away loose deliveries off his pads and finding gaps through the off side, Gambhir put Knight Riders on course. He is a difficult batsman to stop when he is able to dab singles behind point at will, which is what he did tonight.
Gambhir's fourth-wicket stand of 65 with Yusuf Pathan sealed it for Knight Riders. Yusuf did not look too comfortable at the start, but he lashed out at short balls, and stayed unbeaten on 40 off 26.
