5 memorable moments from the Delhi Daredevils-Gujarat Lions match that don't fade away

Gujarat Lions overcame Delhi Daredevils in a pulsating contest at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium by 1 run to regain the top spot in the IPL Season 9 table. While Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith started off the day with their big hitting, it was nothing compared to the havoc created by Chris Morris who scored a 32-ball 82 to take Delhi agonisingly close to the 173-run target before being scuppered by the brilliant bowling of Praveen Kumar and Dwayne Bravo.

While Lions made a dream start with both their batting and bowling, the Daredevils made a brilliant fightback on both occasions, but in the end, the visitors prevailed in what was one of the most entertaining fixtures yet this season.

There were plenty of memorable moments in this thriller of a match that don't fade away, quite like the Axe Signature range of body perfumes. Here are 5 of the best:

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McCullum & Smith's flying start

The absence of Aaron Finch due to injury has allowed Dwayne Smith to reignite his partnership with Brendon McCullum that worked so well for Chennai Super Kings and tonight the duo showed why they have been one of the most successful opening pairs in the history of the IPL. Smith might not have been in the best of touch off late while McCullum has been rusty owing to his time away from cricket, but both were on top of their game as they tore apart the Delhi Daredevils bowling in the powerplay overs.

While West Indian took the early initiative, McCullum slowly caught up and went past his burly partner as the pair hammered runs at will. The signs were there early on as Smith smashed Delhi skipper Zaheer for 18 runs in the first over and the duo brought up 50 on the scoreboard in just 3.5 overs – the fastest in this edition of the IPL.

They kept up the scoring even after the powerplay overs as the 100 came up in just 9 overs. Truly remarkable hitting!

Delhi Daredevils' amazing fightback with the ball

With the kind of start Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum gave the Gujarat Lions, the home crowd at the Feroz Shah Kotla might have been expecting the worst. But Delhi Daredevils, led by the South African duo of Chris Morris and Imran Tahir, made an amazing fightback to keep them in the game.

Tahir, preferred to the big-hitting Carlos Braithwaite, provided the initial breakthrough by trapping Smith in front of the wickets while Morris accounted for the big two – McCullum and Suresh Raina – to truly change the course of the game. Delhi never let the opposition off the hook after that and were able to restrict Gujarat for just 172 runs when a total beyond 200 looked easily attainable at one stage.

Dhawal Kulkarni's new ball magic

Dhawal Kulkarni might not have the pace to hound the batsmen but what he has in abundance is the ability to pitch the ball in the right areas and trouble the batsmen with the pace he is able to garner from the surface. While Delhi Daredevils came out to bat with a spring in their steps following their brilliant fightback in the latter part of the pre-interval, Gujarat Lions new ball pair of Dhawal Kulkarni and Praveen Kumar ensured that the advantage was back in their side's hands in the early overs itself.

While Kumar kept things tight at one end, Kulkarni picked up three early wickets to wrestle the momentum away from Delhi. Two of those scalps were Karun Nair and Sanju Samson – two of his former teammates at Rajasthan Royals while the dangerous Quinton de Kock also fell to the medium pacer.

Chris Morris' scintillating knock

Chris Morris did well with the ball, no doubt, but he went one better with the bat as his monstrous sixes brought back Delhi into the reckoning after his side had made a terrible start to their run-chase. Partnering fellow countryman JP Duminy, Morris cleared the boundaries effortlessly to bring their side ever so close to the target.

The South African all-rounder brought up his fifty of just 17 balls, with 42 of those runs contributed by sixes. He smashed Dwayne Smith for three consecutive sixes as he went on to score the highest score ever by a No 6 batsmen in IPL history but just couldn't help his side cross the finish line.

Bravo & Kumar's brilliant final overs

With just 18 runs required off 12 balls and the kind of form Chris Morris was in, everyone would have expected Delhi to win comfortably, but first Praveen Kumar and then Dwayne Bravo ensured a win for the visitors with their brilliant death bowling in spite of some horrendous fielding.

Kumar continued his brilliant work with the new ball in the latter overs as well as the 19^th over bowled by him went for just four runs, thus putting the pressure back on the opposition. Bravo complimented Kumar really well and should have had Morris dismissed of the first ball only for James Faulkner to let an easy catch through his hands.

Equally bad efforts by Ravindra Jadeja and Dinesh Karthick meant Morris faced the final delivery with four runs required, but Bravo remained focussed and bowled another peach of a delivery to win the match for Gujarat.