Zaheer Khan made an impressive comeback from a year-long hiatus complementing Nathan Coulter-Nile brilliantly as Delhi Daredevils spanked Kings XI Punjab by nine wickets in an Indian Premier League match on Friday.
Chasing a paltry target of 119, Daredevils romped home with 6.1 overs to spare as openers Mayank Agarwal (52 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (54) put on a comfortable 106-run partnership for the first wicket to seal the issue in style.
The home team could not have asked for a better performance from their bowlers in their last home match as they restricted Punjab to 118 for eight after winning the toss.
Coming into bowl in a competitive match after 363 days, Zaheer removed Virender Sehwag (1) off the second ball and Manan Vohra (1) in his very next over as he finished with figures of 2/17 from four overs.
After Zaheer blew the top two away, Coulter-Nile caused a lot of damage in the middle and lower order with figures of 4/20 in four overs as it deservingly earned him man-of-the match award.
There was not much KXIP could have done after putting on board such a total and Delhi easily crossed the finishing line without much fuss.
Needing under six runs an over, Iyer and Agarwal went about their business calmly. Iyer's 54 came off 40 balls with four fours and three sixes while Agarwal’s faced 40 balls in his knock and hit six fours and six.
Delhi now have eight points and they moved up to number four, replacing Royal Challengers Bangalore (7) while Punjab remained at the bottom with 4 points.
The Kotla pitch had good bounce to assist the bowlers even as there were no demons in it and largely Punjab batsmen were responsible for team’s misery as they did not apply themselves well.
KXIP can thank David Miller (42) and Axar Patel (22) as their 57-run partnership for seventh wicket helped them cross the 100-run mark as they were tottering at 45 for six at halfway stage.
Apart from the duo, only skipper George Bailey (18) reached the double-digit mark before being trapped by Amit Mishra.
Miller's 42-run knock five boundaries, including a six.
In all Punjab batsmen hit only 12 boundaries of which three were maximums.
Their start to the innings was disastrous but the ended the innings with Anureet Singh whacking Imran Tahir for a long-on six.
Earlier, it was just the kind of start Delhi needed after winning the toss. Zaheer struck twice in his three-over spell. In his very second ball in this IPL edition, he sent back Virender Sehwag (1), who edged one to point fielder and then the left-arm paceman returned to dismiss Manan Vohra (1) in the last ball of his second over.
In between skipper J P Duminy had in-form Shaun Marsh (5) trapped leg before with his first delivery. More mayhem followed as Coulter-Nile had Wriddhiman Saha (3) edging one to the slips.
Punjab slumped to 10 for four in 3.3 overs and skipper George Bailey joined David Miller at the crease.
Bailey, however was dismissed by Amit Mishra, leaving Miller with a daunting task to lead the recovery. Under the conditions, the South African left-hander did his best and was well supported by Axar. Had it not been their fighting stand, Punjab could have been in more miserable position.
