Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson played brilliant knocks as Delhi Daredevils sailed to a crushing seven wicket-victory that ended Gujarat Lions' prospects of making it to the qualifiers in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday evening.
Delhi made a mockery of a daunting looking 209 total, thanks to some exquisite power hitting from Pant (97) and Samson (61) that helped them chase the target in just 17.3 overs here at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
Chasing the target, Delhi Daredevils lost skipper Karun Nair cheaply who fell after scoring 12 runs. In stepped Pant and along with Samson, he proceeded to change the course of the match. Pant was just brutal in his 43-ball inning as he smashed 9 sixes and 6 fours. Samson was equally destructive as he struck seven sixes in his 31-ball knock.
The duo added 143 off 63 for the second wicket and took the game away from the Suresh Raina led-side.
On 97, Pant edged a ball from Basil Thampi and he stood aghast as he missed out on a well deserved century.
Earlier, impressive late spells from Kagiso Rabada and Pat Cummins had overturned the momentum from rapid fifties by Raina and Dinesh Karthik to restrict the Lions to 208 for 7 after they had put up 158 in their first 14 overs.
Raina (77) and Karthik (65) came to the crease when the visitors were reeling at 10/2 in the second over. But sensible innings from the duo helped Gujarat to get out of troubled waters.
They both stitched a brilliant 133-run partnership for the third wicket before Raina was run out by Rabada in the 14th over.
Pant was adjudged the Man of the Match for his brilliant knock which according to Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar was one of the best knocks over the last 10 seasons and not just this one.
Delhi, now standing at the sixth spot with eight points from 10 games, will take on Mumbai Indians on Saturday.
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