A dominating display of batting by youngsters Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant saw the Delhi Daredevils pull off the second highest run chase in IPL history. The unlucky Delhi batsman, Pant, was dismissed on 97, missing out on a well-deserved hundred.
Samson provided able company in a solid 143-run partnership that ensured the visiting side were never in the game.
The Gujarat Lions also batted magnificently well, making the most of some largesse on the field by the home side in the first 10 overs. When Shreyas Iyer dropped an easy catch of Suresh Raina, it could safely be termed the ‘drop of the season’. Marlon Samuels also couldn’t hold on to another catch offered by the visiting captain. Having a lot of youngsters on the field, the Delhi side should be right in expecting higher fielding standards.
Raina, on his part, made full use of the reprieves, scoring a scintillating 77 off just 43. His century partnership with Dinesh Karthik set the tone for the Gujarat Lions batting lineup. For 12 overs, the pair punished the home side for their mistakes on the field, putting together 133 runs. At the end of the 13th over, the visiting side had 139 on the board and they were on course to reach a score over 220.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017, DD vs GL: Player Ratings
This was when Delhi’s fielding standards suddenly went up a notch. An alert and quick Kagiso Rabada knocked the stumps over to finally end Raina’s stay. As if to make up for his error in calling his skipper for a single, Karthik steered the next ball to midwicket for four and carted the next one over point for six. Finch’s boundary off the last ball of the same over added to the bowler’s woes.
At this point, things were looking dangerous for the home side as the Gujarat Lions were in a position to amass enough to bat the Delhi team out of the game. Pat Cummins was called on to bowl and produced a chance off the first ball.
A full delivery outside off stump and Karthik, trying to go over mid-off, mistimed his shot. The ball looked like it had got enough to go over Corey Anderson, who was standing inside the circle. The Kiwi held his nerve, watched the ball closely and moved back at the same time to give himself a chance. The ball was going over and it would need a jump.
Going back as far as he could, the attacking all-rounder timed his jump to perfection, stuck out his left hand and plucked the ball out of thin air. It was a piece of jaw-dropping athleticism by the New Zealander, who has had injury issues in the past. Karthik’s dismissal at this point meant that within the space of one over, there were two new batsmen at the crease and the runs would not come as easily.
Watch Anderson’s brilliance here.
To Delhi’s credit, Pat Cummins and Kagiso Rabada formed an excellent combination in the death overs, choking the runs as well as picking up wickets. On a track where bowlers were getting belted to all parts of the ground, bowling with pace and ensuring you didn’t end up in the stands required some skill. After Karthik’s dismissal, the bowlers conceded only three more hits to the fence until the last two balls of the innings, when Jadeja smashed a couple of sixes.
This stupendous effort by Corey Anderson ensured that Gujarat Lions failed to get to the kind of total they were considering halfway through the innings. A visibly improved fielding effort in the second half saw the home team save at least what could have been an extra 20 or 30 runs.
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