The burning question for Delhi Daredevils was their mettle under pressure. They were on a losing streak that was now at seven matches across two seasons. They still had to contend with their biggest influence - Kevin Pietersen - being restricted to the bench. They had to best one of the wilier attacks in the IPL, which believed - at 167 - it had enough to defend.
However, fifties from stand-in captain Dinesh Karthik and new recruit JP Duminy took them home in an emphatic flurry.
The Daredevils captain was on the receiving end of a snorter from Albie Morkel in the last match, but today he was at his busy best. He nudged those singles and twos, his footwork against spin was precise and more importantly he held the chase together until Duminy arrived at No. 5 and took Morne Morkel for 21 runs in the 18th over to shift the balance.
Sunil Narine was Knight Riders' go-to man again, gamely delivering a 19th over that allowed only six runs to leave the equation at run-a-ball.
The pressure shifted to Piyush Chawla who beat Jimmy Neesham with a legbreak that didn't turn, and then snapped him up with a seam-up delivery. Duminy hared across to the other end so that he was on strike, and belted another quick delivery over square leg to take the honours with three balls to spare.
A big target requires some risks at the top and contributes to the wickets without much doing from the bowlers. M Vijay was one such casualty when his search for a non-existent single resulted in his run-out.
Ross Taylor could not get going for a second game in a row and was undone by a gorgeous offcutter from Jacques Kallis. But Daredevils would not have minded thanks to Mayank Agarwal punching 26 off 14 to ensure the powerplay fetched 49 runs.
Karthik and Duminy got together with 107 needed off 13 overs and began milking the spinners. Narine was kept back until the 11th over, by which time Karthik had a measure of the situation. His strike-rate spent only two balls under 100 as he trusted in his nurdles on either side of the wicket to keep the score ticking.
Chawla's first over highlighted Karthik's range against spin when he carted a six over square leg and then cut a four through point. A languid six over extra cover brought up his fifty and was probably the shot of the match.
Duminy was at his innovative best as well. His first boundary was a scoop over the keeper. But the starkest trait that came across was his skills in finishing a game. He lost Karthik in the 15th over, Manoj Tiwary could only last six balls and Knight Riders scented a turnaround with 40 needed off the final four overs.
It was then that Duminy exploded. Morne Morkel had set up Knight Riders' victory on Wednesday with a brutal first spell. His pace and lift was just as troublesome to deal with today as he claimed two wickets, but in the crunch he almost seemed to play into Duminy's hands. A length ball, a short one and a full toss were blitzed for four, six and six.
Daredevils dug into their box of quicks and picked out Nathan Coulter-Nile and Jaydev Unadkat. It seemed an unwise tactic on a slowish pitch, but Dubai Sports City's famed ring of fire enhanced the threat. Under lights the pitch gained an extra oomph and Mohammed Shami exploited it in the first over to hand Jacques Kallis his ninth duck and mark him as the batsman with the most ducks in the tournament.
Gautam Gambhir was still searching for his first runs this season and was almost relieved when he lined up a short ball on leg stump and settled into a flick. Only there was a leg gully in place and the Kolkata captain joined Kallis on nine ducks.
With Knight Riders' engine room malfunctioning, the powerplay fetched only 31 runs and forebodingly the pitch reverted to it's natural sluggish state as Unadkat's variations and Shahbaz Nadeem's left-arm darts kept the scoring under check.
Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa hung in there, telling themselves the release was around the corner. Neesham appeared on cue and was belted for 13 in the seventh over.
Pandey followed suit with struck two of his five fours in that over and was on course to orchestrate a second recovery for Knight Riders in as many matches. His charge though was flummoxed by an arm ball from Nadeem that clattered into off stump.
Uthappa survived a scare when he was on 7 when Taylor spilled him at short midwicket. He had held the pull shot back during that stroke and decided the tactic would not proffer much success. He belted Shahbaz Nadeem over long-off for the first six of the match and then swung Duminy for consecutive fours in the 16th over to race towards his fifty.
He was out soon after but cameos from Shakib Al Hasan and Suryakumar Yadav set up a total that visibly energised the Knight Riders' dug-out at the innings-break. But Daredevils just wanted it more.
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