Pune: Opener Mayank Aggarwal and Yuvraj Singh struck half centuries as Delhi Daredevils snapped their 11-match losing streak in the IPL cricket tournament by beating Kings XI Punjab by five wickets here today.
Chasing a challenging 166 for a win, Aggarwal (68) and Yuvraj (55) shared 106 runs for the third wicket to help Delhi win the match with one ball to spare at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
Aggarwal, who was dropped on 42 by Sandeep Sharma of the bowling of Mitchell Johnson, hit seven fours and two sixes in his 48-ball knock while Yuvraj smashed five boundaries and three sixes in his 39-ball innings.
Yuvraj showed glimpses of his old form with some exquisite shots as Delhi reached 169 for five in 19.5 overs.Both Aggarwal and Yuvraj were out in consecutive deliveries in the 19th over but by that time, Delhi needed just seven runs to win from 10 balls. Angelo Mathews knocked off the winning run—a four—of the bowling of Axar Patel.
Today's win was the first for Delhi in 12 matches over two seasons. They had lost their last nine matches of the previous edition last year before starting this season with two losses before today's win.
Coming together in the eighth over at team score of 53 for two when captain Jean-Paul Duminy (21) was run out in a bizarre way, Yuvraj and Aggarwal hit some lusty blows against Kings XI bowlers after getting themselves in.
Aggarwal smashed Johnson for two fours and a six in the 15th over and then Yuvraj joined the party by hitting two sixes off Axar Patel next over.
The asking rate fell below six in the 18th over and Delhi knocked off the remaining runs.
Captain Duminy was unlucky to be run out after a promising start as he fail to reach the crease after a collision with Axar Patel who slid the ball onto the stumps.
Duminy was thrown off balance and lost his bat and landed on his gloves. The TV umpire, after a long review, ruled that Duminy was short of his crease.
For Kings XI, Anureet Singh grabbed two wickets while Sandeep Sharma and Axar Patel took one wicket each.
