Navi Mumbai: Delhi Daredevils' unfancied batting line-up pulled off a thrilling chase, upsetting the higher-placed Pune Warriors in a high-scoring match. Venugopal Rao and Aaron Finch added 47 in four overs in the dying stages of the game to pull Delhi back from the brink. It is Delhi's first win in the tournament after two losses and Pune's first loss after two wins.
Pune had posted 187-5 with power-packed fifties from Jesse Ryder and skipper Yuvraj Singh, who also took four wickets to derail Delhi's chase. But Venugopal and Finch's sustained hitting took Delhi close after which James Hopes hit Ryder for a six and four in the final over to cap the chase.
Delhi had been provided a robust start of 75 in seven overs by David Warner (37) and skipperVirender Sehwag (46), who finally provided a meaty contribution after two small scores earlier.
The DY Patil pitch is quicker than the others in the tournament, and Delhi brought in Umesh Yadav for the match. An incredibly wayward first over followed. Yadav bowled short on both sides of the wicket, left-hander or right-hander, and went for four fours in the over that produced 21 runs in all.
Resultantly, Ryder blasted his way to 50 after being dropped on 46 by Ashok Dinda. It set up the innings for the big-hitting Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj. Uthappa made only four, but Yuvraj had a fantastic time, making 66 in 33.
In the final over, he pounded a four and three sixes off Dinda to end the innings. During the chase, Yuvraj dismissed Irfan Pathan and Manan Ojha and was on a hat-trick in his first over. As Delhi got closer to the target, he dismissed Finch and Venugopal in his final over. Oddly, it still wasn't enough.
The disappointing aspect of the bigger picture is that Irfan, who had been recovering from injury last year, has still not found any sort of form in this tournament. He has taken one wicket in three matches. He has bled runs. With the bat, he's made a first-ball duck against Mumbai, and a six-ball 10 against Rajasthan.
Today Irfan was promoted to No. 3 at David Warner's fall. With 13 overs and 113 runs remaining, Irfan had time to bat and a target to attain. He made a 16-ball 14 which didn't help Delhi's fight with the mounting required rate.
Delhi have one of the weakest-looking squads in the tournament, and Irfan is one of their senior players. A turnaround of fortunes for Irfan could not only propel Delhi, but also propel Indian cricket.
Delhi Daredevils 190 for 7 (Warner 46, Yuvraj 4-29) beat
Pune Warriors 187 for 5 (Ryder 60, Yuvraj 66*) by three wickets
No comments:
Post a Comment