May 1, 2015
Brief Scorecard: Delhi Daredevils 119 for 1 (Iyer 54, Agarwal 52*) beat Kings XI Punjab 118 for 8 (Miller 42, Coulter-Nile 4-20, Zaheer 2-17) by nine wickets
Shreyas Iyer and Mayank Agarwal put on 106 for the opening stand, Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2015, Delhi, May 1, 2015
May 1, 2015
Brief Scorecard: Delhi Daredevils 119 for 1 (Iyer 54, Agarwal 52*) beat Kings XI Punjab 118 for 8 (Miller 42, Coulter-Nile 4-20, Zaheer 2-17) by nine wickets
Shreyas Iyer and Mayank Agarwal put on 106 for the opening stand, Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2015, Delhi, May 1, 2015
NEW DELHI – Kings XI Punjab’s shortcomings in the batting department have cost them dear in the Pepsi Indian Premier League 2015, and the game against Delhi Daredevils at Feroze Shah Kotla on Friday (May 1) showed them up again, resulting in a humiliating nine-wicket loss for them.
Delhi asked Punjab to bat first and, led by Zaheer Khan first and then Nathan Coulter-Nile, clinically exposed the frailties in the Punjab armour, restricting them to a paltry 118 for 8 before chasing down the target in just 13.5 overs.
Shreyas Iyer and Mayank Agarwal gave the Delhi chase a breezy start, taking them to 50 in just seven overs. Neither Sandeep Sharma, nor Anureet Singh – who have both had fairly good stints in this year’s edition – could trouble the duo, who mostly dealt in singles and found the occasional boundary to keep the chase going.
By the end of the ninth over, Delhi were within 55 runs of their target with all wickets intact. From then on, it was nothing more than a walk in the park for them as they romped home with only Iyer falling along the way. Agarwal remained unbeaten on 52, with the help of six boundaries and a six, while Iyer, who impressed with a match-winning 83 against Mumbai Indians last week, scripted a mature 40-ball 54, studded with four fours and three sixes, before being dismissed with Delhi 13 adrift.
Earlier, Delhi, reinforced by Zaheer’s return, ran through Punjab’s top order as if they wanted to quickly get out of the sun on an extremely hot afternoon.
Zaheer Khan celebrates the wicket of Virender Sehwag, Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2015, Delhi, May 1, 2015
Virender Sehwag, who walked in amidst huge cheers from the almost-capacity crowd for obvious reasons, was the first to return to the hut, caught by Angelo Mathews at point off Zaheer second ball of the match.
Shaun Marsh, who suffered a minor blow at practice on Thursday, hit a boundary before a JP Duminy delivery crashed into his pads. Even as everybody’s attention was on the umpire, Yuvraj Singh ran in to break the stumps at the bowler’s end with Marsh outside his crease, making sure Delhi had their man one way or the other. Eventually the lbw appeal stood and Punjab were 6 for 2 in the second over.
Those early wickets seemed to have triggered panic in the Punjab camp, as Punjab were soon 10 for 4 with Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha dismissed, and when George Bailey (18) and Thisara Perera followed them back, the scoreboard read 45 for 6 at the halfway mark.
It took a spirited seventh-wicket partnership of 57 between David Miller and Axar Patel to help the Punjab innings go past the 100-run mark. Not surprisingly, Miller took most of the strike, scoring 42 off 41, while Patel contributed 22 runs off 26 balls.
Coulter-Nile dismissed both Miller and Patel in the 19th over to add to the wickets of Saha and Perera to end with 4 for 20 from his four overs.
Nathan Coulter-Nile celebrates a wicket with his team-mates, Delhi Daredevils v Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2015, Delhi, May 1, 2015
The loss kept Punjab at the bottom of the points table, with just two wins from eight matches, while Delhi climbed up to fourth spot with a 50% success rate in their campaign so far.
Courtesy: Wisden India
