Yesterday’s match was an one-sided match. The match was played at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot. This was the last match to be played at this ground.
Delhi Daredevils won the toss and chose to bowl first. Lions start was not good. They lost 3 wickets for 24 runs in the span of 4 overs and Delhi made a comeback. Raina hit a uppercut six off Amit Mishra’s 1st over. Lions was weakly placed at 75 for 3 in 10.5 overs. The 51-run stand between Raina and Dinesh Karthik in 42 balls increased the run-rate. They lost Raina in last ball of 11th over of the innings. Raina was stumped by de Kock off Amit Mishra’s 1st over. Lions was reduced to 75 for 4 in 11 overs. Lions hit a atleast 1 boundary in 13th over of the innings. Lions was comfortably placed at 127 for 4 in 17.2 overs. Dinesh Karthik scored a fine 53 off 43 balls and destroyed the Delhi bowlers. This was his 2nd fifty of the season and overall 14th fifty of his IPL career. This was his highest score of the season but previous highest was 51 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore at same venue. This was his highest score by batsman in this match. The 52-run stand between Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja in 39 balls was the highest. They lost Dinesh Karthik in 18th over of the innings. Dinesh Karthik was bowled by Mohammad Shami. Ravindra Jadeja was dropped by Shahbaz Nadeem in the final stages of the innings when he was on 18 runs. It was a costly miss as he went on to score 18 more runs. They lost Faulkner in next over. Faulkner was bowled by Chris Morris. Ravindra Jadeja scored a quickfire 36 off 26 balls smashed Delhi bowling. This was his second highest score in his IPL career behind 48 runs for Chennai Super Kings against Deccan Chargers at Viskhapatnam in 2012. They lost Ishan Kishan in last ball of the innings. Ishan Kishan was run out by a direct throw by Billings and de Kock. Lions posted not a competitive total of 149 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Shahbaz Nadeem was the most successful bowler for Delhi when he took 2 wickets also including 2 wickets in 4th over.
Delhi start was good. Rishabh Pant hit 3 successive boundaries off Dhawal Kulkarni’s 1st over. He hit 2 fours and a six off Dhawal Kulkarni’s last over. They plundered 9 boundaries in 61-run powerplay. He promoted to the top order of the batting. He hit a whip four off Dwayne Smith’s 1st over. Rishabh Pant scored a brilliant 69 off 40 balls and hammered the Lions bowling. This was his 1st fifty of his IPL career and also overall 1st fifty in his T20 career in his 3rd game. This was the second youngest batsman to score a half-century in IPL history at the age of 18 years and 212 days. This was his highest score in his IPL career but previous highest was 27 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders at Delhi in his previous match. This was the highest score by batsman in this match. The 115-run stand between de Kock and Rishabh Pant in 81 balls was the highest and it look Delhi will win the match. This was the second highest 1st wicket partnership by team in this season behind unbroken 137 runs between Warner and Dhawan for Sunrisers Hyderabad also against Gujarat Lions at same venue. This was also the second highest 1st wicket partnership for Delhi in IPL matches behind 132 runs between Warner and Sehwag against Kings XI Punjab at Delhi in 2011. They lost Rishabh Pant in 14th over of the innings. Rishabh Pant was caught by Dinesh Karthik off Ravindra Jadeja’s 1st over. de Kock scored a classy 46 off 45 balls attacked Lions bowling. They lost de Kock in next over. de Kock was caught by Dwayne Smith off Shivil Kaushik’s 3rd over. The 29-run stand between Samson and JP Duminy in 15 balls remained unbeaten. Samson hit the winning six and Delhi won comfortably. Ravindra Jadeja and Shivil Kaushik took 1 wicket each for Lions. Delhi won the match by 8 wickets. This was Delhi’s 5th win in IPL 2016.
Now, Delhi Daredevils will take on Rising Pune Supergiants on May 5. Gujarat Lions will face Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 6.
We will back with today’s match update tomorrow. Bye for now.
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