Warriors stun the Daredevils: Match analysis

It was a day of surprises in the Indian Premier league, with both the less fashioned teams coming out on top against the biggies. Rajasthan Royals as well as Delhi Daredevils would need to ponder on what went wrong today and make amends as soon as possible. The one name on everyone’s lips at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium now, is “Saurav Ganguly”.

After being condemned for his captaining decisions in the last few games, he rose to silence all his critics today with a brilliant all round performance. After getting off to a flying start, Pune looked shaky, especially Jesse Ryder, who didn’t look all that comfortable, striking the ball along the edge of the bat and somehow getting the boundaries as the big screen in the stadium read “Ryding on luck”. But credit would have to be given to the Pune team as they maintained a 10 over run-rate and clobbered the Delhi bowlers to reach a massive score of 192. Delhi then had a huge task on hand, and looked in a good position to do so with Sehwag and Pietersen at the crease, but it was Pune who saw the game home, winning by a comfortable 20 runs.

Where the game was won and lost:

Partnerships

As it was clearly evident, the Warriors maintained a decent partnership throughout their innings, with the 93 off 64 deliveries stand between Ganguly and Ryder being the best. On the other hand, Delhi faltered in this department, even though Sehwag and Pietersen did bat well together.

Slog overs

One of the most important parts of a T20 is the slog overs, where the bowlers comes into picture and try to pick up a few quick wickets to avoid being clobbered towards the end. Just when the graph was moving above Pune’s “curve of action”, a few quick wickets saw the run progression reduce for Delhi and helped Pune take the much-needed two points.

All Round performance

Delhi lacked all round performances by some of its key players, which was shown by their opponents. Saurav Ganguly did extremely well in all three departments of the game, and was a motivating factor for his teammates. Getting Pietersen’s wicket was the game changing moment after which it was all downhill for the home side. “Dada” hasn’t been in form lately and was condemned by experts to quit the game, but he has proved today that he still has a lot of mettle left in him.

Both the captains have utmost respect for each other and have an idea of the other’s potential and ability and this is what they had to say after the match:

Saurav Ganguly: No ground is small for Sehwag so once you get his wicket then it is a big relief. I was relieved when Sehwag got out because until he was there the match could have gone either way. Pietersen’s wicket celebration was an act of relief because he was hitting it to the upper tier. My body is alright but I am going to feel it tomorrow.

Virender Sehwag: I think he was behaving like a 33 year old man. I know a lot about him and he knows a lot about me. Still I keep my fingers crossed and hope that Ganguly gets out so that I can use my left arm spinner but I couldn’t at the end. I think I should have stayed on for longer, but when you have to chase 190 it becomes difficult. The wicket is good to bat on so I was just trying to hit to my strengths.

Overall, an exciting game of cricket, which Pune would be relieved, to say the least, to have won, while Delhi wouldn’t be too bothered by the result, but would hope it doesn’t become a regular occurence.