DD chase down 150 with ease

May 03, 2016 07:33 pm | Updated May 04, 2016 03:28 am IST

PTI Photo / IPL/ SPORTZPICS

PTI Photo / IPL/ SPORTZPICS

Young Rishab Pant struck a brilliant half-century as Delhi Daredevils thrashed table toppers Gujarat Lions by eight wickets to jump to the second spot on Tuesday.

For the Lions, Dinesh Karthik (53) struck a solid half century to steer Gujarat Lions to a respectable 149 for seven in their IPL match against Delhi Daredevils.

Put into bat, the Lions, who lost their previous match after a spell of victories, made a disastrous start as they were reduced to 24 for 3 in the fourth over before Karthik’s 43-ball innings, which had five fours, took them to 149 at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

Commentary:

Samson finishes it with a slog six. This has been a clinical performance from DD, who've beaten GL with 8 wickets and 16 balls to spare.

Delhi Daredevils 142/2 (16) (J.P. Duminy 13*, Sanju Samson 11*) (DD need 8 from 18 balls)

JP's reverse swept the first one -- minimum effort, that. And follows that with a loft over the covers. That's got the target two big hits away -- only 8 runs needed now.

Delhi Daredevils 129/2 (15) (J.P. Duminy 2*, Sanju Samson 10*) (DD need 20 from 24 balls)

DK's stumped Samson here, but..wait. Replays confirm that it's a no-ball -- GL would have loved to see the wicket of Samson. And the free hit ball is smashed down the ground for a boundary. The game's looking one way from here.

Delhi Daredevils 121/2 (15) (de Kock 46, Sanju Samson 4*) (DD need 29 from 30 balls)

Kaushik to continue. Runs have dried up a bit here -- runs coming only in singles. And that's prompted de Kock to go for the slog and has mistimed it. There's no power behind that one and Smith pouches that one with ease, well ahead of the ropes.

Delhi Daredevils 118/1 (14) (de Kock 45*, R. Pant 69)

Pant perishes, trying to smack one over the midwicket. He's into the shot early and gets an inside edge which hits his pad and lobs straight up. DK takes it. Sanju Samson's the next man in. Only 4 off this one -- good one for GL.

Delhi Daredevils 114/0 (13) (de Kock 43*, R. Pant 69*)

A costly miss? Smith bowled it short and de Kock misses it, trying to pull that one. No edge there, replays confirm. And de Kock goes about doing his job -- keeps the scoreboard ticking.

Delhi Daredevils 105/0 (12) (de Kock 37*, R. Pant 66*)

Now, the batsmen will have to contend with Faulkner's slower ones. Pant spoils a super over from Faulkner with a straight six -- he picked it and goes throught the line of the ball. GL ahd bowled two tidy overs prior to this one -- they had to have avoided this six.

Delhi Daredevils 96/0 (11) (de Kock 35*, R. Pant 59*)

Dr. Smith to bowl. He's bowling them straight and full -- a relatively quiet one. DD can afford to take it slowly at this stage -- the required RR is only 6 and they're going at over 8.

Delhi Daredevils 93/0 (10) (de Kock 33*, R. Pant 58*)

Kaushik to continue. de Kock is happy playing the secondary role, he's content with taking singles and giving the strike to the India U-19 player. Kaushik slips in tight over here - only 8 in this one. The equation is simple: DD need 57 runs from 60 balls.

Delhi Daredevils 85/0 (9) (de Kock 32*, R. Pant 51*)

Pant's punishing Raina in Rajkot. Raina floats one in the middle and Pant's smashed that past the bowler. Another four -- this time he pulls it ferociously in front of midwicket. The runs keep coming! This time, he misreads the length but still goes with a shot and middles it for six. 16 off this one!

Delhi Daredevils 69/0 (8) (de Kock 31*, R. Pant 36*)

Shivil Kaushik's here. He's greeted with a reverse sweep -- a four. He bowling tight lines and to the field -- very few singles and easy drop-and-run chances on offer for the batsmen.

Delhi Daredevils 63/0 (7) (de Kock 30*, R. Pant 31*)

Raina will look to slow things down -- he's been the most economical one so far. And he does exactly that -- only 2 runs coming off this one. DK's also missed an easy stumping chance, there.

Delhi Daredevils 61/0 (6) (de Kock 29*, R. Pant 30*)

These two are making the most of the fielding restriction, The boundaries continue to flow -- this time off de Kock's bat. Kulkarni bowled it short and wide and de Kock gets it over the ring of fielders over the third man region. And another one -- Pant heaves it over the midwicket region for a boundary. No timing on that one but he's got it over the circle and for a boudnary.

Delhi Daredevils 51/0 (5) (de Kock 24*, R. Pant 26*)

Raina continues. Pant's taking some risks and they're paying off -- he's swept a full, straight one for boundary. DD are off to a terrific start, chasing 150 -- they're well above the required run rate which 6.6.

Delhi Daredevils 41/0 (4) (de Kock 22*, R. Pant 17*)

de Kock's picked that from the middle stump and a wristy flick sends it over the ropes. Praveen Kumar's bowling it straight and in the mid 130s and de Kock's loving it. Delhi up the tempo -- 10 coming off this one.

Delhi Daredevils 31/0 (3) (de Kock 14*, R. Pant 16*)

Skipper Raina decides to bring himself to the attack. A quiet over, this -- five singles and a double. Seven off this one.

Delhi Daredevils 24/0 (2) (de Kock 9*, R. Pant 15*)

Dhawal Kulkarni to bowl the second over. Wow! The ball's racing off Pant's bat here. Three fours -- he flicks the first one off good length, a check-drive off the second and a square off the next one. He's making it look easy.

Delhi Daredevils 10/0 (1) (de Kock 9*, R. Pant 1*)

Praveen's bowling them short and de Kock's finding it easy to work it on the leg side -- two fours off this one. Super start by Delhi here.

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Gujarat Lions 149/7 (20) (Ishan Kishan 2, R. Jadeja 36*)

Shami to bowl the last over. Jadeja welcomes him with a six over long on -- he was waiting on the backfoot and has muscled it over the ropes. Shami's mixing it up here, a lot of slower ones. And, Gujarat Lions finish at 149/5 at the end of 20 overs.

Gujarat Lions 138/6 (19) (James Faulkner 7, R. Jadeja 28*)

Death over specialist Morris to bowl the 19th over. He's bowling it fast, straight and full. What an over! 2,1,2,1,2,W. He was consistently bowling it full and Faulkner, expecting another one, moves inside the line to play a ramp shot but doesn't make any contact -- that's hit the leg stump on full. Super over!

Gujarat Lions 130/5 (18) (Dinesh Karthik 53, R. Jadeja 25*)

DK reaches his 50 in style, moves away and Shami follows him. Karthik waits on that and pulls it behind square leg for a boundary. OUT! DD strike at the right time, again! This time, it's Karthik. He makes room but misses a straight ball -- the ball kisses the bails. Shami's in the middle of a terrific spell -- at the end of three overs, he's given away only 21 runs.

Gujarat Lions 123/4 (17) (Dinesh Karthik 49*, R. Jadeja 24*)

Jadeja's going after Zak now -- he's hit the DD skipper over the ump's head. And, another four! This time he waits on the backfoot, and punches the slower one behind point. And that's forcing Zak to change his line, and bowls a wide. Zak's almost got Jadeja off the last one -- a slower one and Jadeja's into the shot early. But Nadeem's diving effort goes in vain.

Gujarat Lions 110/4 (16) (Dinesh Karthik 49*, R. Jadeja 13*)

Karthik's on the charge here. A couple of 2s in the start of the over and Jadeja makes it an even better start to the over -- drives one with some power behind it. Good over for GL, this -- 12 runs came off it. With four overs more, can GL get to 150?

Gujarat Lions 99/4 (15) (Dinesh Karthik 44*, R. Jadeja 6*)

Shami's here. And Jadeja gets going with a pull in front of square -- it was a slower one and Jadeja's happy with it. But he's still struggling to score off the fuller ones. Only seven came off this one -- Shami's going at exactly seven per over.

Gujarat Lions 92/4 (14) (Dinesh Karthik 41*, R. Jadeja 2*)

Zak starts with a short one -- a knuckle ball and DK's got enough time to pull that one for a boundary. He's playing it nicely here, 40 off 34 balls for the GL 'keeper. But Jadeja's finding it hard to rotate the strike -- only a single, apart from the boundary.

Gujarat Lions 87/4 (13) (Dinesh Karthik 36*, R. Jadeja 2*)

Duminy to continue. He goes on the backfoot and thumps one in front of square -- he remains the key for GL.

Gujarat Lions 81/4 (12) (Dinesh Karthik 31*, R. Jadeja 1*)

Another phase of rebuilding begins for DD. Zak brings himself to the attack and bowls a tight over. Only six off this one. They'll get to 135 if the persist with the same scoring rate.

Gujarat Lions 75/4 (11) (Dinesh Karthik 26*, Suresh Raina 24)

DD's looking to get through the overs quickly here. But GL's also playing it sensible -- they're getting runs off every ball and dispatching the loose ones. OUT! Mishra gets Raina. The GL skipper makes his intention of stepping down the wicket early and Mishra's seen that -- bowls a wide one and Raina's stranded in the middle. Super stuff, this.

Gujarat Lions 65/3 (10) (Dinesh Karthik 17*, Suresh Raina 23*)

Jean-Paul Duminy's into the attack. The batsmen have recovered well after the terrible start but will look to stay in the centre till the 15th over at least. He's coming around the wicket for Karthik. They're doing it easy, in singles and doubles. Eight have come off this one -- DD's run rate's still below 7.

Gujarat Lions 57/3 (9) (Dinesh Karthik 12*, Suresh Raina 20*)

The run rate's climbing slowly -- 6.8 now. Mishra bowls a tight over -- everything's full and bowled slow. The batsmen are happy taking singles.

Gujarat Lions 52/3 (8) (Dinesh Karthik 9*, Suresh Raina 18*)

Karthik improvises -- moves away and plays a ramp shot. He's made it look so simple -- no fuss and effort but effective. Now, it's Raina. He gets on top of the bounce and taps it with some confidence -- the ball is placed in the gap and it's a four. He's persisting with this length -- short and into the body of both the batsmen. DD make 13 runs in this one.

Gujarat Lions 39/3 (7) (Dinesh Karthik 3*, Suresh Raina 12*)

Leggie Amish Mishra's here. He's bowling them slow and getting the batsmen to stretch for runs. He's started off well -- only 4 of this one.

Gujarat Lions 35/3 (6) (Dinesh Karthik 1*, Suresh Raina 10*)

Shami will loook to continue the good work done by the other DD bowlers. Raina moves away and guides a short one over the thir man boundary -- a much-needed six this! He needs to up the pace if he wants to persist with this length. Eight off this one.

Gujarat Lions 27/3 (5)

DD is losing the plot -- they need group and rethink on their strategy. Morris continues and he's bowling in the high 140s here. Karthik's getting serious short ones here -- Morris has him jumping and fending ones off his chest. Terrific over, this -- only three off this.

Gujarat Lions 24/3 (4)

Now, both the openers are gone. Smith perishes, looking to smash the spinner out the park. Morris takes an easy catch at long-on. Two new batsmen -- Suresh Raina and Aaron Finch -- at the crease. And, he strike again, OUT! Finch's stay at the middle is short -- tries to sweep Nadeem's arm ball but only manages to get top edge. Pant takes a simple one at short fine leg. A dream start for DD here.

Gujarat Lions 17/1 (3)

Zak strikes! McCullum's made a mess of that one, an error in judgment there -- he's misread the length on that one. He tries to pull one that wasn't that short and misses it. Terrific start for the old workhorse -- only three runs and the all-important wicket of McCullum.

Gujarat Lions 14/0 (2)

Chris Morris to bowl. He's getting it swing both sides and Smith's taking up the challenge. He's flicked an incoming one through the vacant midwicket region for a four and follows that with a nice-looking drive. That was a slower one too. GL openers get a move on -- nine came off this one.

Gujarat Lions 5/0 (1)

Nadeem to bowl the first over. The ball's drifting into Smith, here -- no turn off the pitch though. A top delivery to finish the over -- another one that went straight but quicker and hit McCullum, who's camping on the backfoot, on the pads. Very close call, that -- Umpire says there's come bat on that.

Here's the final XI for both teams:

Gujarat Lions:

Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, S. Raina, A Finch, D Karthik, R Jadeja, Ishan Kishan, J Faulkner, P Kumar, D Kulkarni, S Kaushik

Delhi Daredevils:

Quinton de Kock, S Samson, K Nair, JP Duminy, S Billings, Pant, C Morris, A Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Z Khan, S Nadeem

Zaheer Khan wins the toss and DD will bowl first.

Gujarat Lions’ three-match winning streak came to an end on Sunday after losing to Kings XI by 23 runs but despite the loss, they continue to enjoy the top spot in the table with 12 points from eight games. Delhi Daredevils, on the other hand, would be hoping to settle scores after losing by a narrow one run against Gujarat Lions at home.

Mentored by Rahul Dravid and led by veteran Zaheer Khan, IPL-9 has seen a transformed Daredevils side. They have won four out of their six games, losing just against Gujarat Lions and Kolkata Knight Riders.

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