Gujarat down Delhi in pulsating clash
New Delhi, April 28: Gujarat Lions edged out a spirited Delhi Daredevils by one run in a thrilling Indian Premier League (IPL) clash that went right down to the last ball at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium here on Wednesday.
Chris Morris produced a superb all–round performance for Delhi and almost stched victory for the hosts before falling short in an exciting last over.
Chasing a competitive target of 173 runs, Delhi seemed to be in trouble after losing early wickets before Morris and his South Africa teammate J.P. Duminy produced a superb comeback.
Morris smashed an unbeaten 82 runs off just 32 balls, entertaining the home crowd with four hits to the ropes and eight towering sixes. The South African all–rounder was effective with the ball as well, returning fairly economical figures of 2/35.
Duminy played a patient knock of 48 runs off 43 balls, hitting three boundaries and a six along the way. He was unlucky to miss out on a half–century and was caught and bowled by Dwayne Bravo after offering an uncharacteristacally poor shot.
Wednesday’s victory took the lions to the top of the IPL table with 10 points. The IPL debutants have five wins from the six matches they have played so far. The Daredevils, who suffered their second defeat in five matches, are at the third spot with six points.
Delhi had a rocky start as Dhawal Kulkarni struck the crucial early blows, removing the top three Delhi batsmen in his first two overs. The Mumbai–born pacer eventually finished with figures of 3/19 in his four overs. James Faulkner (1/23) and Dwayne Bravo (1/40) were the other wicket–takers for the Lions.
Delhi opener Sanju Samson made a hash of what should have been an easy flick off his pads to a poor delivery on his legstump by Dhawal Kulkarni. What he did mage was to offer the leading egde to Faulkner at mid–on.
Kulkarni then removed Quinton de Kock and Karun ir in his next over to leave the Daredevils struggling at 3/16 after four overs.
Duminy and Morris then came together to smash the Delhi bowlers all around the ground. But Duminy’s dismissal was the turning point. The young Pawan Negi — the most expensive Indian player at the IPL auction — was uble to provide the necessary support to Morris with the hosts needing 29 runs off 17 balls when he came in to bat. But an undaunted Morris continued to produce the big hits.
With the Daredevils needing four runs off the last ball, Bravo came up with an accurate delivery into Morris’ blockhole. Morris’ swing only carried the ball to Ravindra Jadeja at long–on and the batsmen could only complete two runs much to the disappointment of the home crowd.
Earlier, put into bat by Delhi, Gujarat Lions rode on quick–fire half–centuries from Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith to post 172/6 in their 20 overs. (IANS)
Scoreboard
Gujarat Lions:
Dwayne Smith lbw Imran Tahir 53, Brendon McCullum b Chris Morris 60, Suresh Rai c Karun ir b Chris Morris 2, Dinesh Karthik c JP Duminy b Imran Tahir 19, Ravindra Jadeja c Quinton de Kock b JP Duminy 4, Ishan Kishan c JP Duminy b Imran Tahir 2, Dwayne Bravo Not out 7, James Faulkner Not out 22, EXTRAS : (w 1, lb 2) 3, TOTAL: (6 wickets; 20 overs) 172, Fall of Wickets:1–112, 2–116, 3–117, 4–130, 5–142, 6–142, Bowling: Zaheer Khan 4–0–48–0, Shahbaz deem 4–0–32–0, Chris Morris 4–0–35–2,Amit Mishra 3–0–27–0, Imran Tahir 4–0–24–3,JP Duminy 1–0–4–1
Delhi Daredevils:
Quinton de Kock c Suresh Rai b Dhawal Kulkarni 5, Sanju Samson c James Faulkner b Dhawal Kulkarni 1, Karun ir c Pravin Tambe b Dhawal Kulkarni 9, JP Duminy c & b Dwayne Bravo 48, Rishabh Pant c Praveen Kumar b James Faulkner 20, Chris Morris Not out 82, Pawan Negi Not out 3, EXTRAS : (w 1, lb 2) 3, Total : (5 wickets; 20 overs) 171, Fall of wickets: 1–2, 2–12, 3–16, 4–57, 5–144. Bowling: Praveen Kumar 4–0–13–0, Dhawal Kulkarni 4–0– 19, Dwayne Bravo 4–0–40–1, Suresh Rai 2–0–17–0, Dwayne Smith 2–0–26–0, James Faulkner 2–0–23–1,Ravindra Jadeja 1–0–14– 0, Pravin Tambe 1–0–17–0.
