Mahela Jayawardene smashed unbeaten half-century to help Delhi Daredevils beat Kings XI Punjab by 5 wickets in an Indian Premier League match at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium on Tuesday. 

With the victory, Daredevils became the first team to qualify for the play-off stage of the IPL 5 with 20 points from 14 matches.

Jayawardene hit eight boundaries in his 49 balls 56 innings and added unbeaten 45 runs with the Irfan Pathan (19 not out) to take the hosts over the target with an over to spare.

Pathan hit three boundaries in his rapid 10-ball knock.

Piyush Chawla dismissed Naman Ojha (34) in the fourteenth over to break the 58-run fifth wicket partnership between Ojha and Mahela Jayawardene and reduced Delhi to 95/5 in 13.6 overs.

Ojha hit two sixes and three boundaries in his quick 29-ball innings.

Chasing 137-run target, Delhi lost four top-order batsmen inside six overs to start the run chase nervously.

Pacer Parvinder Awana struck twice in the sixth over to dismiss Ross Taylor (0) and Venugopal Rao (7). Awana's effort rocked Delhi run chase as he reduced Daredevils to 37/4 in 5.4 overs.

Awana also struck with the very first ball to dismiss Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag (8) in the fourth over as the hosts were reduced to 28/2 in 3.1 overs.

Praveen Kumar gave Punjab early breakthrough in the third over when he dismissed David Warner (14).

Earlier, Umesh Yadav (3-21) and Varun Aaron (2-19) helped Delhi restrict Punjab to 136/8.

Electing to bat, Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals and managed to set a modest 137-run target for the strong Delhi batting line-up.

Skipper David Hussey remained unbeaten on 40 off 35 balls, which included a six and five boundaries, for Punjab but failed to stitch meaningful partnerships in the innings.

Praveen Kumar (8) got run out in the penultimate over as the visitors were reduced to 126/8 in 18.1 overs.

Pacer Umesh Yadav dismissed Piyush Chawla (10) in the eighteenth over to break the blossoming 29-run partnership between Hussey and Chawla.

Spinner Pawan Negi dismissed young Gurkeerat Singh (8) in the thirteenth over as Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals.

Azhar Mahmood became second victim of Yadav in the twelfth over as Punjab lost half-the-side for just 80 runs.

After a terrible mix-up with skipper David Hussey, Punjab batsman David Miller (4) got run out in the tenth over to add more agony to their team. Miller's wicket reduced Kings XI to 63/4 in 9.4 overs.

Yadav got rid of Nitin Saini (15) in the eighth over soon after teammate Varun Aaron stuck twice in two overs to reduce Punjab to 54/3 in 7.2 overs. Saini hit two fours in his run-a-ball innings.

Aaron dismissed in-form Punjab batsman Mandeep Singh (21) in the sixth over to dent the Punjab run charge. Mandeep smashed five boundaries in his quick-fire 12-ball knock before Aaron got better of him.

Punjab lost Shaun Marsh (13) early in the fourth over when pacer Aaron struck with his very first ball and reduced Punjab to 24/1 in 3.1 overs. Marsh hit three boundaries in his 15-ball slow innings.

Earlier, Punjab skipper David Hussey won the toss and decided to bat against Delhi.

"It (toss) does not matter, we would have chosen to bowl anyway. Ross Taylor and Pawan Negi in, Roelf van der Merwe and Yogesh Nagar are out for us," said Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag after losing the toss.

Punjab have made two changes in the side as they included David Miller and Harmeet Singh in place of Ryan Harris and Siddharth Chitnis.

Teams:

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (capt.), Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Naman Ojha (wk), Venugopal Rao, Pawan Negi, Morne Morkel, David Warner, Varun Aaron, Ross Taylor.

Kings XI Punjab: David Hussey (capt.), Harmeet Singh, Piyush Chawla, Parvinder Awana, Azhar Mahmood, Nitin Saini (wk), David Miller, Mandeep Singh, Praveen Kumar, Shaun Marsh, Gurkeerat Singh.

Agencies