IPL: Pant, Samson hand DD a crucial win

Chasing a target of 209 runs, Pant and Samson forged together a partnership of 143 runs for the second wicket.

Walking in to bat with his side at 24 for the loss of a wicket in the third over, Pant entertained the home-crowd with his power hitting.

The southpaw, who's also the local lad, hit as many as nine sixes to go along with his six fours but was unlucky to get out three shy of a century.

Samson, who's already hit a century in the present edition of the Indian Premier League, contributed 61 runs off 31 balls, hitting seven of them for sixes.

For the visitors, Pradip Sangwan, Basil Thampi and Ravindra Jadeja picked up a wicket each.

Earlier, the homeside won the toss and put the Gujarat side to bat first, who ended up scoring 208 runs for the loss of seven wickets.

Suresh Raina, who was handed at least three chances by the Delhi fielders, made the most of it as he top scored for his side with 77 runs for 43 balls.

The Gujarat skipper hit five fours and four sixes.

Raina was also involved in a 133-run partnership with Gujarat wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, who too hit a fine fifty.

Karthik's innings of 65 runs off 34 balls consisted of five fours and an equal number of sixes.

The Lions, who looked set to score an excess of 200 runs, lost momentum in the later stages of the game but a cameo from Ravindra Jadeja (18 runs of 7 balls) helped them through.

For the homeside, Patrick Cummins and Kagiso Rabada picked up a couple of wickets each, while Corey Anderson, who wowed the crowed with a stunning catch, picked up a awicket.    

Rishabh Pant was adjudged the Man of the match for his exploits with the bat.

image: IPL Twitter account