Rising Pune Supergiants defeated Delhi Daredevils by 19 runs via the Duckworth Lewis method after rain twice hit the match at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Stadium here on Tuesday night.
In reply to Delhi’s 121 for six, Supergiants had recorded 57 for one, well ahead of the DL par score of 42 at the 8.2 overs mark, when a heavy downpour interrupted the contest for the first time.
Fifty-five minutes play was lost in the process. It again rained after 11 overs, when the Supergiants were placed at 76 for one against the D/L requirement of 57. The match was then called off.
Pune’s approach to the chase was assured, the start itself quite steady if not solid.
After cracking four boundaries, Usman Khawaja was unfortunate to be scooped up at point by Shreyas Iyer off Chris Morris.
A headbanger from Nathan Coulter Nile had Bailey’s helmet hurtling backwards, needing replacement. Rahane read a similar ball right and scooped the sphere out of harm’s way.
Never out of the doldrumsDelhi was never out of the doldrums for most of the way, not doing much to shake off its poor track record in the Powerplays.
Wickets fell early, cheaply and at regular intervals, no partnership showing the resilience to bolster its slack batting display.
Quinton de Kock, the mainstay of its campaign, was not quite able to connect to the ball moving away from him. The left-hander failed to do so against Ashoke Dinda’s straight one and was trapped right in front.
After that maiden wicket over, the bandana wearing bowler struck again. His chest-high delivery was fended off by Shreyas but ballooned into a catch for square leg Usman Khawaja .
When boundaries became hard to come by, the third wicket pair of Karun Nair and Sanju Samson sought the scaffolding of singles and twos to build their side’s score.
Sniffing Samson’s impatience at not being able to stroke freely, Adam Zampa lured the youngster out and Dhoni did the rest. Rishab Pant couldn’t resist the urge to cut loose and holed out to Thisara Perera at long off, also off the Australian leggie.
Karun Nair seemed in command, his five boundaries enough indication of it. He, however, fell prey to the guiles of Zampa and was rapped on the pads.
Duminy disappointed again, a scoop off Dinda from outside the off promptly picked up by Irfan Pathan at short fine leg.
Chris Morris proved to be the proverbial sting in the tail, hammering a brace of sixes and four boundaries in a rampaging cameo.
