IPL 2017, GL vs DD: 5 things that went wrong for Gujarat Lions

The Gujarat Lions vs Delhi Daredevils tie at the Green Park in Kanpur was, by all means, a dead rubber, with both teams having been already knocked out of the race for the playoffs. However, the two teams went on to produce one of the most exciting contests of the season.

Delhi Daredevils won the toss and opted to bowl first. A quick-fire 69(39) from Aaron Finch, well supported at the other end by Dinesh Karthik’s 40(28), took the Gujarat Lions to a formidable first innings total of 195.

With the loss of two wickets early in their reply, it seemed that the Delhi Daredevils batting line-up was set to capitulate meekly like they have on a couple of occasions earlier in the season. However, just when it was needed the most, Shreyas Iyer stepped up with a match-winning 96(57).

Extra Cover: IPL 2017, GL vs DD: Player Ratings

The Lions did a few things wrong on the night, here are five of them.

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#5 Toss

The Gujarat Lions are not known to have a great record batting first. On many occasions, their bowlers have failed to defend huge scores set up by their explosive batting line-up. In fact, stats suggest that they have won only once out of 12 matches in which they have batted first across two seasons.

Earlier in this season too, Gujarat Lions failed to defend a target of over 200 against the Daredevils, when Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant went all guns blazing.

So, when the Daredevils had the toss going their way, Gujarat Lions were once again put under pressure to defend a score. Interestingly, the only instance of them winning a game while batting first came against the same side, when they won by a margin of one run last year.

#4 Raina’s woes with the short ball

Raina was done in by a quick peach from Cummins

Having not found a place in India’s squad for the Champions Trophy despite his IPL heroics, Suresh Raina was a disappointed man. However, with his team out of contention, Raina would have wanted to utilise this dead rubber as an opportunity to keep pushing for selection.

His stay at the crease, though, was brief. He walked in to bat at the fall of Dwayne Smith’s wicket in the fourth over and started in typical fashion, hitting Cummins uppishly over point for a boundary.

The delivery was short and Raina moved away to find the width to free his arms. Off the very next delivery, he tried to repeat the stroke, only managing to bring about his downfall. Backing away in anticipation of another short one, Raina was surprised by a quick, full delivery fired in from Cummins and was cleaned all ends up.

#3 Dwayne Smith’s flop show with the ball

Gujarat Lions would have done well to have utilised Smith as a batsman alone

Quite inexplicably, on several occasions throughout this season, Raina has turned to Dwayne Smith to fill in a few overs in the middle. However, Smith has only gone on to deliver expensive spells that have cost them in crucial junctures of the game.

Against the Daredevils, Raina introduced Smith into the attack as early as the last over of the Powerplay. Delhi had lost two early wickets and Karun Nair and Shreyas Iyer were new at the crease when Basil Thampi conceded 15 in the fourth over.

It would have been ideal in this scenario for Raina to turn to one of his strike bowlers. Instead, he chose Smith, who then went on to concede 17 in the over. As it panned out, Daredevils, who were reeling at 32/2 at the end of 4 overs, doubled their score in the matter of these two overs. Smith’s gentle medium pace has not helped Lions’ cause throughout the season.

#2 Ankit Soni was under-utilised

Ankit Soni did not get to bowl despite being picked in the XI

While Dwayne Smith was given the ball when it was absolutely unnecessary, a certain Ankit Soni was left playing no part in the match. With his loopy deliveries and variations, the leggie has been impressive in his limited appearances for the side and might have come up with a trick or two to prise out a couple of batsmen.

Instead, he ended up not bowling at all in spite of being picked in the XI.

#1 Basil Thampi and Faulkner’s expensive overs

Faulkner bowled one good over but was then taken to the cleaners

Both Thampi and Faulkner picked up wickets in key moments of the game but also conceded the advantage by leaking runs. Faulkner conceded just two runs in his first over and scalped Karun Nair, who had raced away to 30(15), to end a dangerous partnership. However, when he returned to bowl the crucial 17^th over with the partnership between Iyer and Cummins building, he went on to give away 21.

Faulkner did pick the wicket of Cummins later on, but the damage had already been done.