IPL 10: Pant and Samson power Delhi to crucial win

Match scores

Delhi Daredevils win by 7 wickets 

Gujarat Lions inns: 208-7 (Raina 77no, Karthik 65; Rabada 2-28, Cummins 2-30)

Delhi Daredevils inns: 214-3 (Pant 97, Samson 61)

Match report

Rishabh Pant's blistering 97 off 43 balls powered Delhi Daredevils to a seven-wicket win over Gujarat Lions in IPL 10.

Set an imposing 209 runs to win after Suresh Raina (77) and Dinesh Karthik (65) had put on 133 in 12 overs, Delhi romped to victory in 17.3 overs as Pant and Sanju Samson (61 off 31) cut loose to share a stand of 143 in 10.3 overs.

Their partnership steered Daredevils to the third highest run-chase in IPL history - the innings featuring 20 sixes and only eight fours.

The victory means Delhi remain in the hunt for a play-off place but ends Gujarat's hopes of progressing to the later stages of the tournament.

Gujarat suffered an early double setback when Brendon McCullum (one) nicked a cracker of a delivery from Kagiso Rabada behind - Pant snaffling the catch to his right - and Dwayne Smith (nine) was sent back by Raina and run out by Shahbaz Nadeem's direct hit.

Raina received two lives in the same over, Marlon Samuels unable to grab a spliced chance at extra cover before Shreyas Iyer juggled and dropped another opportunity off Rabada at slip.

The misses hurt Mohammed Shami first as Raina took 14 off his first four balls before Raina picked out Samuels at midwicket on 42 only for the Delhi debut to shell the ball.

Fittingly Samuels was the bowler as Raina completed a 32-ball fifty and he found a splendid ally in Karthik, who brought up Gujarat's first hundred partnership of IPL 10 with a six off Nadeem.

Raina's luck ran out when he was sent back by his partner, Rabada shying at the non-striker's end and hitting with Gujarat's skipper a few inches short - leaving him just short of 400 runs for the tournament.

When Karthik departed to a fantastic one-handed catch by Corey Anderson, Aaron Finch (27 off 19) and Ravindra Jadeja (18no off seven) picked up the big-hitting mantle.

Delhi had no option but to come out flying, Pant reaching his fifty off 27 balls after Karun Nair edged behind with three sixes in a row off Pradeep Sangwan.

No bowler was spared as Pant and Samson posted a 100 stand off 46 balls - Samson reaching his own half-century of 24 deliveries with back-to-back sixes off Jadeja, immediately after Pant had hoisted the previous two deliveries from James Faulkner over the rope.

Jadeja finally provided the breakthrough when Samson sliced a towering catch to Faulkner at long off and 167-2 became 179-3 when Pant fell swinging, briefly standing his ground in disappointment after missing out on what would have been a stunning century.