New Delhi: Quite a few eyebrows were raised when Delhi DareDevils captain Zaheer Khan opted to bat first after winning the toss at the Kotla, on Saturday night. Kings XI Punjab, many felt, would be more comfortable chasing on the solid batting track.

But in the end, the experienced Zaheer Khan was proved right as Kings XI faltered and fumbled to lose by 51 runs. Watched by a capacity crowd, the hosts were deserving winners - they outplayed their rivals in all departments of the game.

The match was won and lost in two different phases. The first phase was the last five overs of DareDevils batting when they slammed 68 runs after struggling to 120 for five in 15 overs.

If DareDevils batsmen, Corey Anderson (39 not out), Chris Morris (16) and Pat Cummins (12 not out), did the job with the bat, then their bowlers finished the task in style by the 11th over. Kings XI lost half their side for 65 runs on the board and never posed a serious threat with the bat. Chasing the DareDevils score of 188 for six, Kings XI, who lost their second consecutive match, could only manage 137 for nine.

The DareDevils thus picked up back-to-back victories after losing the opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Morris and Cummins were the top performers with the ball, too. While Morris captured three wickets for 23 runs, Cummins bagged two wickets giving away 23 runs.

Daredevils

S. Samson c Morgan b Cariappa 19

S. Billings c Miller b Patel 55

K. Nair c Saha b Aaron 0

S. Iyer c Morgan b Mohit 22

R. Pant c Morgan b Aaron 15

C. Anderson not out 39

C. Morris c Mohit b Sandeep 16

P. Cummins not out 12

Extras (lb-2 w-4 nb-4) 10

Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 188

Fall of wickets 1/53, 2/55, 3/96, 4/103, 5/120, 6/151

Bowling: Sandeep 4-0-41-1, Mohit 4-0-37-1, Patel 4-0-33-1, Aaron 4-0-45-2, Cariappa 3-0-23-1, Maxwell 1-0-7-0

KXIP

M. Vohra lbw b Nadeem 3

H. Amla c Billings b Morris 19

W. Saha c Khan b Nadeem 7

E. Morgan c Nair b Cummins 22

D. Miller lbw Anderson 24

G. Maxwell c Billings b Mishra 0

A. Patel b Morris 44

M. Sharma b Cummins 13

KC Cariappa b Morris 1

S. Sharma not out 2

Extras (lb-1, w-1) 2

Total (9 wickets; 20 overs) 137

Fall of wickets 1/5, 2/21, 3/31, 4/64, 5/65, 6/88, 7/133, 8/134

Bowling: Khan 4-0-38-0, Nadeem 2-0-13-2, Morris 4-0-23-3, Cummins 4-0-23-2, Mishra 3-0-16-1, Anderson 3-0-23-1

MoM: C. Anderson