The last time Gujarat Lions and Delhi Daredevils came face-to-face, DD had made a mockery of the opposition’s 209-run target riding on two young talents.
On Wednesday, Delhi again came out victorious as Shreyas Iyer finally came to the party with his highest T20 score ever to ensure a narrow two-wicket win with two balls to spare that saw the two bottom-half teams exchange their positions on the leaderboard.
The result also extended Gujarat’s poor record defending totals — it has won only one of 13 so far. Delhi also avenged its one-run defeat last year and that narrow loss must have been playing on Rahul Dravid’s mind as the Delhi coach refused to celebrate till Amit Mishra finally nicked Basil Thampi’s slow full toss to the fine- leg boundary for the winning runs.
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Inexperience to the fore
Chasing 196, Delhi needed to bat well for a pride-salvaging win. But its inexperience came to the fore as its batsmen kept taking risks and losing wickets. That is, till Shreyas’ classy, yet aggressive, 96-run knock that came in just 57 balls and included two huge sixes — straight and over mid-wicket — and 15 fours. The runs flowed all across the ground, with an affinity towards the offside, and he spared no bowler.
Much before that, Sanju Samson dragged a short ball from Pradeep Sangwan on to the stumps in the second over. Rishabh Pant sauntered out of the crease nonchalantly after tapping the ball to Suresh Raina in the slips, only to see the bails dislodged from a direct hit.
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Marlon Samuels and Corey Anderson both fell to Jadeja’s agility and accuracy. But by the time Shreyas was cleaned up by Pradeep Sangwan in the final over, it had all been eclipsed by the youngster’s brilliance.
Earlier, Aaron Finch and Dinesh Karthik took Gujarat to the above-par total as sloppy fielding and poor bowling allowed the Gujarat batsmen to relieve pressure and garner extra runs.
The two added 92 runs in just under 10 overs to steady the innings provide an impetus as Lions managed 195 for five wickets. Finch’s four sixes were all class.
The partnership was crucial as the two came together when Lions had lost Suresh Raina and Ishan Kishan quickly. Finch was bowled in the penultimate over and even though the total looked enough, Shreyas made sure it wasn’t.