Delhi and Punjab both win in IPL

Cape Town:

The Delhi Daredevils made it three wins out of three, beating the Bangalore Royal Challengers by six wickets, while defending champion the Rajasthan Royals lost by 27 runs to Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.

Rajasthan has yet to record a win in its first four matches and is second from bottom of the points table. Punjab lies third with four points from four games, having won two and lost two.

"We haven't found the right combination," Rajasthan captain Shane Warne said. "The blokes at the top are not doing a good job. We've got to find a solution. The bowlers are not firing."

After batting first and scoring 139-6, Punjab's bowlers restricted Rajasthan to 112-7.

South African pacer Yusuf Abdulla was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-21, while allrounder Irfan Pathan and spinner Piyush Chawla both chipped in with two wickets apiece.

Rajasthan were on the backfoot as early as the second over when Swapnil Asnodkar (3) was caught by Ramesh Powar off a delivery from Pathan.

Graeme Smith (2) then edged a swinging Pathan delivery to wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara to leave Rajasthan on two wickets down with just nine runs on the board.

The only two Rajasthan players to make any impression with the bat were Ravindra Jadeja, who made 37, and Warne, who struck an unbeaten 34.

Punjab captain Yuvray Singh praised Sangakkara, who top-scored with 60, and Irfan Pathan, who scored 39, for lifting the team to a defendable total.

"We needed a partnership and those two gave us that," he said. "We defended the total nicely too."

Earlier, Tillakaratne Dilshan's unbeaten 67 guided the Delhi Daredevils to a third straight win that leaves them tied on six points with the Deccan Chargers at the top of the table.

Set a target of 150, Dilshan anchored the Delhi innings, hitting cleanly square of wicket in a dominant innings in good batting conditions.

Dilshan and AB de Villiers (21) got Delhi from a worrisome 4-42 after 23-year-old right-arm pace bowler Pankaj Singh removed openers Virender Sehwag (16) and Guatam Gambhir (7).

But when de Villiers fell in the 13th over, bowled by left-arm spinner Kotarangada Appanna trying to give himself room outside off stump, the advantage appeared to drift to Bangalore.

Bangalore captain Kevin Pietersen was generally happy with his team's performance despite the defeat.

"Its sad to lose, I'm upset, but when you lose the way we did its encouraging. The guys can raise their heads high."

Pietersen had top-scored for Bangalore with 37 in their total of 149-7. It was a welcome return to form for the England batsman, who will play one more IPL game before joining his English teammates for a series with the West indies.