Zaheer Khan chose to bowl against Gujarat Lions in Rajkot after winning his fourth toss of the season. The Delhi franchise currently sits fourth on the points table with four wins in six games. They also made two changes to the squad that beat Kolkata Knight Riders in their last game. JP Duminy and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, who has been impressive for DD in the previous seasons, came in for Carlos Brathwaite and Shreyas Iyer. Brathwaite lost out to Duminy who regained fitness despite winning the Man of the Match award against KKR.
Also read: IPL 2016, Match 32 Preview (KKR vs KXIP): The Kings hope to ride past the Knights
Gujarat Lions captain Suresh Raina said that he was unsure on whether to bat or bowl. The Lions had to drop Dwayne Bravo due to the injury he suffered in the last game and was replaced by Aaron Finch who was in great form at the start of the season. Finch had missed the previous three games due to a hamstring injury. Lions beat Daredevils by one run in the previous encounter between these two sides, at Feroze Shah Kotla on April 27.
Gujarat Lions lose McCullum and Smith early
Gujarat Lions got off to the worst possible start as they lost both McCullum and Smith in the span off two deliveries, with just 17 on the scoreboard. Aaron Finch who was playing his comeback match failed to make a mark, he too fell five balls later after making just five runs. Suresh Raina was joined by Dinesh Karthik at the crease after the fall of Finch’s wicket and looked to build a partnership. They brought up their 50 run partnership in the 11 over but Raina fell soon after scoring 24 runs, outfoxed by Mishra and stumped by de Kock, with 75 on the board.
Karthik and Jadeja partnership take GL to a respectable total
Dinesh Karthik stayed on despite losing skipper Raina in the 11th over and he along with Jadeja played on till the 18th over putting up a 52 run partnership. Karthik also scored 53 off 43 deliveries in the process, before being bowled by Shami. Faulkner and Ishan Kishan didn’t explode as expected but Jadeja’s 28 helped take GL to a total of 149 off their 20 overs.
Delhi openers make short work of total
Rishab Pant opened the innings with de Kock tonight. The 18-year-old and the 23-year-old started off strongly, scoring 62 runs in the Powerplay overs. Pant the Under-19 wicketkeeper looked the more aggressive of the two. Pant who got a chance to open for DD for the first time took the opportunity with both hands and scored a fifty of just 25 deliveries. De Kock ably partnered Pant from the other end and the two put up an 115 run partnership.
115 runs partnership puts DD in the driver seat
Pant fell soon after for after a brilliant 69 of just 40 deliveries. Just six runs later de Kock fell too, going for a big one. Samson and Duminy finished off the game soon enough, and took DD over the line with eights wickets to spare and 16 balls remaining.
Match Result:
GL: 159/7 (20 overs) Karthik 53; Nadeem 23-2
DD: 150/2 (17.2 overs) Pant 69, de Kock 46
MOM: Rishabh Pant
Gujarat Lions: 1 Dwayne Smith, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Aaron Finch, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Ishan Kishan, 8 James Faulkner, 9 Praveen Kumar, 10 Dhawal Kulkarni, 11 Shivil Kaushik
Delhi Daredevils: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Sanju Samson, 3 Karun Nair, 4 Sam Billings, 5 JP Duminy, 6 Chris Morris, 7 Rishabh Pant, 8 Shahbaz Nadeem, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Zaheer Khan (capt), 11 Amit Mishra
IPL 2016 Points Table and Standings
| Pos | Team | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Net RR |
| 1 | Gujarat Lions | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -0.236 |
| 2 | Delhi Daredevils | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +0.547 |
| 3 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +0.362 |
| 4 | Mumbai Indians | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.009 |
| 5 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +0.060 |
| 6 | Rising Pune Supergiants | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | +0.130 |
| 7 | Royal Challenger Bangalore | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.031 |
| 8 | Kings XI Punjab | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.811 |
IPL 2016 Schedule
| Date | Time (BST/IST) | Match | Venue |
| May 4 | 8 p.m. | Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Kings XI Punjab | Kolkata |
| May 5 | 8 p.m. | Delhi Daredevils vs. Rising Pune Supergiants | Delhi |
| May 6 | 8 p.m. | Sunrisers Hyderabad vs. Gujarat Lions | Hyderabad |
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