India
Rain denies any play as Delhi, Kolkata share points
New Delhi | Thursday, May 22 2008 IST
The Delhi Daredevils' hopes of making it into the semi-finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) received a setback when persistent drizzle after a heavy downpour did not allow any play against the Kolkata Knight Riders at Feroz Shah Kotla here tonight. Earlier, the umpires had decided 11:30 as the deadline time for the start of the match but due to the wet outfield, they finally called it off and both the sides were awarded a point each. An abandoned match now means that Daredevils' chances for a semi-final berth have further reduced while Knight Riders, in all probability, are out of the race. The unseasonal rains have been lashing Delhi for past three days which obviously posed a threat to today's match as well. The outfield looked completely drenched, but umpires were willing to wait for two more hours but ultimately decided that the wet ground would unsafe for the players. Daredevils now have 13 points from 13 games, on the other hand, Knight Riders who were awaiting a miracle have 11 points from 13 games as well. A full 20-over match was never a possibility but crowd and most importantly Sehwag's team was keen to take on the field so as to attain full points from the match. The weather had already put a big question mark on today's match as players were denied of practise sessions as well. Delhi's previous home game against Kings XI Punjab was also affected by rain and they lost after Punjab blasted 94 in eight overs to win under the Duckworth-Lewis method. Delhi will now host Mumbai Indians, whose amazing run of six consecutive wins was finally haulted by Kings XI Punjab yesterday, on May 24. The Daredevils can now only hope to see an uninterrupted match against the Mumbai Indians which the hosts will have to win by a huge margin. Not only that, Sehwag's boys will keenly follow the matches of Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai's remaining matches. Meanwhile, Knight Riders can only clear out the differences between its captain, owner Shah Rukh Khan and the coach as they are hardly to make any impact in the top four teams for the tournament. -- (UNI) -- 22SPD42.xml
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