At the start of the IPL,the Kings XI Punjab bowling attack looked extremely weak,with both Brett Lee and Sreesanth on the bench. On Friday against Delhi,they got a feel of how different things might have been if the duo had been available,and on song,from the start.

Lee took 3 for 15 in his four overs,while Sreesanth overcame a poor first over to finish with 2 for 20 as Delhi were restricted to 120 for nine in their 20 overs. Lee dismissed Virender Sehwag,Farveez Mahroof and Rajat Bhatia,while Sreesanth accounted for the dangerous AB de Villiers and in-form Tillakaratne Dilshan. Punjab then overcame a small top-order wobble to keep their semi-final hopes alive with a comfortable six-wicket win.

Late rally

At one stage,with Delhi struggling at 51 for four,a sub-100 total looked on the cards. Mithun Manhas 26 and Dinesh Karthik 32 put together a 50-run stand to give the Delhi innings an air of respectability,but fell trying to up the tempo. Delhi then went on to lose six wickets for 15 runs and finished with a paltry total of 120.

NO WORRIES

Simon Katich got Punjab off to a flier,scoring a 10-ball 20,but Maharoof,playing his first match of the tournament,brought Delhi right back into the match. The Sri Lankan pacer got rid off the Australian duo of Katich and Luke Pomersbach as Punjab slid to 35-3. Things could have gotten worse for them,but Gambhir dropped an easy chance of captain Yuvraj Singh,who was yet to open his account,in the fifth over of the innings.

There were no more respites for Delhi,as Yuvraj and Kumar Sangakkara,who remained unbeaten on a 47-ball 43,took Punjab to the brink of victory with a 53-run stand. Irfan Pathan then smashed three sixes in his 11-ball 21 to take his team home.

FORGET THEM NOT

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amp;149; Nehra got rid of Sunny Sohal,finishing with staggering figures of 1-6 from his four overs.

amp;149; Irfan picked up the important wickets of Karthik and Daniel Vettori in his spell of 2-22.