AB de Villiers of Delhi DareDevils is castled during their IPL match against Chennai Super Kings at the Kotla on Thursday. (PTI)

New Delhi: The heart-stopping nature of Twenty20 cricket once again came to the fore at the Kotla on Friday when Chennai Super Kings escaped with a last ball win over Delhi DareDevils in an Indian Premier League encounter on Thursday.

Chasing a DareDevils score of 187 for five, the Super Kings huffed and puffed to 173 for six at the end of the 19th over. With 15 runs to get and Manpreet Gony at the striker’s end, not many in the stands would have given the visitors much of a chance.

But the drama that was enacted in the last over was thrilling. Gony, who has played only five first-class matches in his career, came out all guns blazing and clobbered Shoaib Malik for a towering six over mid-wicket.

Once the six was hit, Malik seemed to have lost confidence. The Pakistan captain then bowled a wide and his next ball was snicked past the wicketkeeper by Gony for a four. In the fifth delivery, Gony took a single and Badrinath was left to finish the job in the final ball of the match.

Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag expectedly called in all his fielders but couldn’t stop Badrinath from getting the all-important run. Badrinath followed a simple trick — he hit the ball hard and then quickly crossed over.

It was a match of fluctuating fortunes. Chasing the DareDevils score, the Super Kings went through many ups and downs and almost ended on the losing side after medium pacer Yo Mahesh captured two wickets in as many balls in the 18th over.

Mahesh dismissed a well-set Mahendra Singh Dhoni with his first ball and then removed Sri Lanka’s Chamara Kapugedera to raise visions of a DareDevils victory. Things looked impossible for Super Kings before Gony came down to propel the Chennai team to a four-wicket win.

DareDevils looked in control after some initial hitting by openers Stephen Fleming (44) and Vidyut Shivramakrishnan (40).

The run rate fell until the 14th over when Albie Morkel hammered Sehwag for 23 runs in an over that included three successive sixes. Sehwag, however, had his revenge when his direct throw from the mid-wicket got the South African run out in the next over.

Dhoni, who held the Super Kings innings together with a 33 that earned him the Man of the Match award, also took the gamble of opting for bowling after winning the toss on a hot and humid afternoon.