Sangakkara leads Punjab home

Kumar Sangakkara led Punjab to their modest target with an unbeaten 43

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Kings XI Punjab kept themselves in contention for a spot in the semi-finals of the Indian Premier League with a six-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils in Bloemfontein.

Brett Lee picked up three wickets for Punjab as the Daredevils crawled to 120 for nine, with Dinesh Karthik (32) top-scoring.

Kumar Sangakkara then helped himself to an unbeaten 43 as the Kings XI eased to victory with five balls to spare.

Despite recording a modest total, the Daredevils looked to have taken control when they picked up three wickets in quick succession at the start of the Punjab innings.

Opener Simon Katich plundered 13 runs from the second over from Pradeep Sangwan, but Farveez Maharoof, playing his first match of the tournament, struck with his first delivery to remove the Western Australia batsman.

Ashish Nehra, who had sent down a tight first over, then dismissed Sunny Sohal, while Maharoof struck again to remove Luke Pomersbach and leave the Kings XI reeling at 35 for three.

Yuvraj Singh (18), dropped on zero, and Sangakkara revived the chase with a 53-run stand for the fourth wicket, before Irfan Pathan, who struck three sixes, finished off the match in the company of the latter.

Earlier, the Daredevils had crashed to 52 for four at the halfway stage, but Karthik marshalled a recovery of sorts with a superbly-paced innings.

Lee gave the Kings XI a fine start by picking up the wicket of Virender Sehwag in his second over.

Gambhir was then run out cheaply and Sri Sreesanth struck blows in successive overs to get rid of AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan as the Daredevils struggled.

Karthik hauled them back on course with some sensible batting as he added 50 runs for the fifth wicket with Mithun Manhas (26).

Medium-pacer Wilkin Mota effected the breakthrough by having Manhas caught at midwicket and Lee returned for a second spell at the start of the 17th, delivering a wicket maiden first up and clinching another wicket in his final over to finish with remarkable figures of 3-15 from four overs.

The Kings XI continued to make steady inroads as they restricted the Daredevils to a low total.