NEW DELHI, April 19: Kevin Pietersen blasted a whirlwind 103 not out to help Delhi Daredevils score a superb five-wicket victory over Deccan Chargers on Thursday and take the top spot in the points table of the Indian Premier League.

The England batsman smashed nine sixes and six fours off 64 balls in his maiden Twenty20 century as Delhi scored 162-5 in 19.1 overs after restricting Deccan to 157-8 at the Ferozeshah Kotla Ground.

Deccan had earlier looked set for a huge total before Shahbaz Nadeem (3-16) and Morne Morkel (3-23) pegged them back with timely strikes.

Parthiv Patel (45) and Shikhar Dhawan (44) were the main scorers for Deccan.

Pietersen struck three consecutive sixes off all-rounder Jean-Paul Duminy in the 13th over of the innings to wrest command for his team.

Delhi were struggling at 23-3 at one stage with captain Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene back in the pavilion, but Pietersen batted himself in before unleashing the barrage of strokes. He smashed the winning shot — a six off Ankit Sharma — to also get to a well-deserved century.

Earlier, left-arm spinner Nadeem had a first-ball lbw dismissal of opener Dhawan as the batsman went for a reverse-sweep.

Nadeem also took the key wickets of Patel and Duminy to finish with 3-16, changing the course of the innings after Deccan were cruising along at 81-1 in nine overs.

Delhi now have four wins from five games while Deccan have lost all four of their games.

On Wednesday, captain Gautam Gambhir struck a neat half-century as Kolkata Knight Riders scored an easy eight-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab.

The left-handed opener’s unbeaten 66 helped Kolkata exact revenge for the loss in a low-scoring game three days ago as it coasted to 127-2 in 16.3 overs in reply to Punjab’s 124-7 in the return game at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.

Gambhir smashed one six and seven fours off 44 balls and finished the game in the company of South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who was 30 not out off 23 deliveries.

Results: Delhi Daredevils beat Deccan Chargers by five wickets.

DECCAN CHARGERS 157-8 (P.A. Patel 45, S. Dhawan 44, B. Chipli 25; Shahbaz Nadeem 3-19, M. Morkel 3-23); DELHI DAREDEVILS 162-5 in 19.1 overs (K.P. Pietersen 103 not out, Y. Nagar 23 not out; D.W. Steyn 2-19).

Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets.

KINGS XI PUNJAB 124-7 (A.C. Gilchrist 40 not out, S.E. Marsh 33; S.P. Narine 2-24, B. Lee 2-26); KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS 127-2 in 16.3 overs (G. Gambhir 66 not out, J.H. Kallis 30 not out; P.P. Chawla 2-19).—AP