New Delhi, May 8: In a battle between evenly matched teams, it is often the ability to handle pressure at a crucial stage that decides the result more than standout performances.

On Thursday at the Kotla, Delhi Daredevils lost their nerve while Chennai Super Kings kept theirs as the latter stole a four-wicket win off the last ball in an incredibly tense final over, much to the dismay of the crowd that had turned up in sizeable number to root for the home team.

Chasing 188 to win after a creditable batting performance by the hosts, the Super Kings almost fell at the doorstep, but picked themselves up to go level with Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab in the league points tally on 10 points.

Needing 15 runs an over, tailender Manpreet Gony smashed Dardevils’ Shoaib Malik for a big six over mid-wicket. The tense Pakistan all-rounder bowled a wide the next delivery and then stood still, shaking his head as Gony edged one past the keeper for a four. Three runs came off the next two balls, tying the two teams.

One run was required off the last ball for a Chennai win. S. Badrinath went over the top and almost found Shikhar Dhawan at deep mid-wicket. The fielder got his left hand to it, but could not control the rapidly dipping ball, cueing joyful scenes in the visitors’ dressing room.

The loss poured cold water on Gautam Gambhir (80 off 49 balls; 11x4, 1x6) and Dhawan’s (59 off 46 balls; 6x4, 2x6) effort for the Daredevils, who had notched a record 121-run stand in just 12 overs — the second biggest in the Indian Premier League so far.

Chennai Super Kings started off in blazing style with openers S. Vidyut (40) and Stephen Fleming (44) not letting the miserly pair of Glenn McGrath and Mohammed Asif settle down. Vidyut, promoted to open in place of the axed Parthiv Patel, pulled McGrath to the fence in his first ball.

That set the tone for the rest of the chase. At the 10-over mark, the visitors were 98/3 well on their way to achieving the target.

Albie Morkel kept the momentum going with three successive sixes off Sehwag while skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni threatened to end the game early with a composed 33 off 33 balls.

Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh, though, snapped up two key wickets in the 19th over to swing the balance back in the home team’s favour.

However, Sehwag’s decision to give Malik the last over proved fatal giving Super Kings a much-needed win. To the Daredevils’ credit though, the result could have gone either way.

Just as it had done on numerous occasions in the league, the Daredevils top order came to the party on Thursday as well with Gambhir and Dhawan notching up a record 121-run stand in just 12 overs.

Gony had earlier made full use of a light breeze, unleashing a big inswinging yorker that took the Daredevils’ skipper by surprise, uprooting his off-stump.

Two balls later, AB de Villiers made his way back with a first ball duck. Interestingly, though, the seven-an-over run-rate increased after his departure with Dhawan and Gambhir pushing the scoring along against the two fast bowlers.