Delhi Daredevils turned lavender for its encounter against Kings XI Punjab on Friday, and looked a markedly refreshed outfit.
While a change in kit colours was symbolic, the transformation in the side’s display carried more meaning as it outclassed the visitors by nine wickets.
A crucial change in personnel went a long way to alter the Daredevils’ fortunes, as Zaheer Khan took Domnic Joseph’s place.
While the latter had been impressive, the former’s experience and nous proved decisive.
After the Daredevils put Kings XI in, it was Zaheer who caused the early, and lasting, damage.
Desperate changesKings XI’s changes, unlike the opposition, were effected out of desperation. For the third game running, Glenn Maxwell could not find a place in the XI. On Friday, neither could M. Vijay and Mitchell Johnson. Instead, Thisara Perera, Virender Sehwag and Shardul Thakur walked into the side.
For a side that had won only two of its seven matches, it was a major call to drop players who were expected to play key parts in its plans.
Johnson was particularly missed as KXIP had only 118 to defend. On a track that did not make life easy for the batsmen, early wickets would have sown seeds of doubt into the Daredevils batsmen.
Instead, Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer remained patient to ensure a comfortable win.
Victory imminentOnce the early overs were seen out, victory was imminent.
The glory, though, belonged to the bowlers. The ball would occasionally zip off the surface; if not, it arrived at a pace the batsmen disliked.
In light of the conditions, a big score was not really required to stake claim for victory.
But even a reasonable total demanded patience, a quality that the KXIP batsmen seemed to lack.
Zaheer Khan, in his role as player-mentor, devised the opposition’s downfall. Four wickets fell for 10 runs in the first 3.3 overs.
Sehwag was dismissed two balls into the match as an outswinging delivery took a leading edge and was grabbed by Angelo Mathews at short point, and Jean-Paul Duminy removed Shaun Marsh off his first delivery. The third over saw Manan Vohra nudge the ball to ’keeper Kedar Jadhav and Wriddhiman Saha departed three balls later in a similar way.
Soon, George Bailey who had looked set to engineer a recovery, was LBW when he tried to sweep Amit Mishra.
By the end of the 10th over Thisara Perera had been removed too.
Zaheer’s impressive show was augmented by his advisory role through which he helped Nathan Coulter-Nile and others reap rewards.
The Australian, whose ability to vary the pace proved crucial, benefited the most from the senior paceman’s presence.
Although David Miller and Axar Patel remained stable throughout their 50-ball stand of 57, their downfall occurred when they attempted to score quicker.
And once the duo perished, so did Kings XI Punjab’s chances.
