In cricket, rain is perhaps the more feared entity among everything. However, sometimes, it becomes the source of relief for a team as they look for divine intervention to put an end to their misery.
Last night’s clash between the Rising Pune Supergiants and Delhi Daredevils was one of those games that falls in that class. The Delhi Daredevils put up one of the slowest displays of batting while putting up a score of 122.
As Pune were chasing the total down with relative ease and steadiness, rain poured down and ultimately ended the game abruptly—giving Dhoni’s men a 19-run win according to D/L method.
Despite the full overs not being played,there were plenty of memorable moments in the match that don't fade away, quite like the Axe Signature range of body perfumes. Let's take a look:
1) Karun Nair’s steady innings
After openers Quinton De Kock and Shreyas Iyer were taken out early by a fired-up Ashok Dinda, Karun Nair took it upon himself to steady the ship of a surface that was a difficult to bat on. However, as he found out later, it was one of those days were surviving alone became a humongous task.
While he might have made 41 runs, but it came off 43 balls. As wickets fell like bowling pins around him, Karun held the fort on one end, giving his team the chance to post a decent total.
2) Dinda’s fury
There is a hoodoo surrounding Ashok Dinda that the team he plays for never finishes the league round as one of the top 4. This year is also no different as MS Dhoni’s Pune are already out of the tournament and are most likely to finish at the bottom of the table.
However, that didn’t stop him from spoiling the party for Zaheer Khan’s men as his furious spell left the Daredevils’ batsmen reeling. He bowled 4 overs and took 3 wickets in the process while giving away only 20 runs, making it one of his most memorable spells.
3) Zampa’s brilliance
Dinda’s fury was followed by the brilliance of Adam Zampa. Leg spinners became a rare breed with Shane Warne being the last one to make a lasting stamp on the game. Steven Smith was supposed to take over his mantle, but he realised that his true talent lied in batting.
That made Imran Tahir the only world class leg spinner in the game. However, he might now have competition in the form of Adam Zampa.
Like Dinda, he bowled his quota of 4 overs and got 3 wickets, desecrating the middle order of the Daredevils while giving away only 21 runs in the process. The turn on the ball to dismiss Sands Samson was a beauty to watch and reminiscent of the legendary Austin, Shane Warne.
4) Chris Morris’ power hitting
While rest of the Delhi Daredevils made it look like batting was the hardest thing in the world, Chris Morris came in and showed them how it was supposed to be done.
Why he hasn’t batted a lot earlier is a mystery that is inscrutable. Coming in at number 7, he scored 38 runs off just 20 balls—saving Daredevils from the embarrassment of not reaching the 100-run mark despite playing out their overs.
He has been one of the best players in the tournament this year and it would be better if he gets more batting time.
5) Rahane’s composure
This has been Ajinkya Rahane’s best IPL in terms of individual glory. He has been as consistent as it gets and has busted the myth that he is not a T20 player with terrific knocks every now and then.
Last night, on a slow track, he showed his true class by playing an innings that suited this game perfectly. Although the Supergiants could play only 11 overs, they scored at almost 7 an over as they had 76 runs on board.
Out of those runs, ‘Jinks’ scored 42 in 36 balls—perfectly doing the necessary act of steadily leading his team’s ship to the targeted land.
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