IPL 2017: Pant-Samson guide Delhi Daredevils to 7-wicket win over Gujarat Lions

Delhi Daredevils chased down a mountainous score of 209 as the hosts rode on monstrous hitting from Rishabh Pant (97) and Sanju Samson (61) to record a seven-wicket win over Gujarat Lions at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Thursday.

The left-hand batsman Pant displayed an electrifying show and forced the visitors to rest on back-foot with the help of right-handed player Samson.

The right-left handed duo wrecked havoc on Gujarat as they blasted a 143-run partnership off just 63 balls as Delhi achieved the mammoth target with 15 balls to spare.

Samson smashed seven sixes and in his 31-ball innings, while Pant glamoured his 43 ball innings with nine sixes.

While Gujarat's hopes of making it to the semifinals have been tarnished by Delhi, it is clear that the latter is still in the race for the play-offs.

Delhi is currently placed at the sixth position with 8 points and Gujarat has been pushed to the seventh spot.

Gujarat Lions received an early breakthrough in the name of Karun Nair (12) as Delhi's skipper was caught behind and sent back to the pavilion by medium pacer Pradeep Sangwan in the third over.

The Suresh Raina-led side failed in driving the match in their favour once Pant walked in to play his swashbuckling inning.

Spinner Ravindra Jadeja got rid of Samson in the 14th over, while Pant was sent back to pavilion in 15th over by Basil Thampi.

Delhi's position was already cemented by heroic performances from Samson and Pant and team was launched to the winning mark comfortably by middle-order batsmen Corey Anderson (18) and Shreyas Iyer (14).

Earlier in the match, skipper Suresh Raina (77) and Dinesh Karthik (65) rose to the occasion and carved impressive knocks to take Gujarat to a challenging score of 208/7 from 10/2.

Gujarat was hit by a rough start as it lost both its opening batsmen Dwayne Smith (9) and Brendon McCullum (1) early in the game. Raina along with Karthik bounced back with admirable knocks and impressive133-run partnership for the third wicket to run past the 200 mark.

Pacers Kagiso Rabada and Pat Cummins scalped two wickets each for Delhi Daredevils.