IPL 10, Match 42, DD v GL Review: Rishabh Pant's assault blows Gujarat Lions away

The 42nd match of the season witnessed Gujarat Lions visiting Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. The pitch was tailor-made for the batsmen and the game indeed turned out to be a high-scoring one. Despite scoring a massive 208/7 in the first innings, GL were struck by a lightning named Rishabh Pant who literally made a mockery of the target. DD overpowered GL with a magnificent chase and bagged the vital 2 points.

Earlier, the hosts won the toss and asked Lions to bat first and Dwayne Smith started with two boundaries off the first two balls off Shahbaz Nadeem. The move to bring on the spinner inside the powerplay didn’t work well and so Karun Nair went with Kagiso Rabada for the second over. The South African bowled a jaffa and induced the edge of Brendon McCullum’s bat with a pacy out-swinger that ended up in the gloves of Rishabh Pant. McCullum departed for just 1 off 3 balls and to make the matter worse for GL, Smith lost his wicket off the next ball.

Suresh Raina played a ball towards the leg and took a couple of steps forward and stopped. Smith was well out of his crease and couldn’t trace back as a direct hit from Nadeem curtailed his knock to 9 off 4 balls. Rabada finished a brilliant over and almost bagged the wicket of Raina but Shreyas Iyer spilled an easy one. GL were tottering at 13/2 but just then, the skipper found a great support in the form of Dinesh Karthik. Raina went on the counter-attack and struck Mohammad Shami for a six and 2 fours in the 4th over. The duo kept the assault going and took the score to 58/2 at the end of the powerplay.

The left-hander found another life when the debutant Marlon Samuels dropped his catch in the 7th over off the bowling of Shami. Raina was in no mood to let go of the opportunities and brought up his 31st half-century in the 9th over off just 32 balls. Post that, he just raised another gear and slammed Samuels for 2 sixes in the 11th over. Karthik joined in the act and hit 2 consecutive sixes to Nadeem in the next over as the duo brought up their hundred partnership. The right-hander reached his fifty off 28 balls as the innings found great momentum.

They were going towards a big score but Raina became a victim of a confusion of running between the wickets and was run out in the 14th for 77 off 43 deliveries that included 5 fours and 4 sixes. Karthik wasn’t amused with the incident and to make amends, he hit Shami for 2 fours and a six in a space of 4 balls. But as he looked like getting close to a three-figure mark, a breathtaking catch by Corey Anderson at mid-off cut short his stay at the crease. He had to walk back for 65 off 34 balls which had 5 fours and as many sixes as the score read 158/3 after 14.1 overs.

The Delhi side pulled back the things a bit with some tight bowling. The new men Aaron Finch and Ishan Kishan struggled to carry the momentum forward and the latter was removed in the 18th by Pat Cummins who bagged his second wicket. Finch tried to up the ante but lost his wicket in the process for 27 off 19 courtesy a superb catch from Pant that gave Rabada his second scalp. James Faulkner failed to trouble the scorers but Ravindra Jadeja finished the innings in style with 2 consecutive sixes off Anderson. GL ended with a massive total of 208/7 after 20 overs.

In reply, DD began with the skipper Karun Nair striking two fours in the first over off Pradeep Sangwan. But he fell to the same bowler in the 3rd ball courtesy a rising delivery off which he attempted an upper cut but only managed an edge that gave an easy catch to the keeper. Rishabh Pant was the new man at the crease who had Sanju Samson for a company. The duo marked the beginning of the chase with a six each in the 4th over off Basil Thampi. Pant went absolutely berserk and smashed two more sixes in the next over. The DD score boosted to 63/1 after the end of the powerplay.

There was absolutely no respite on the bowlers as the duo kept slamming them out of the ground. Especially, Pant was adamant on dominating the bowling and brought up his fifty off 27 balls in the 9th over. The score had gone well past 100 in 10th over and the GL bowlers were clueless as they were brutally assaulted. Every bowler was taken for runs as the duo reached the century partnership in the 11the over. Taking a leaf out of Pant’s book, Samson too went on the offensive and struck back to back sixes in the 12th over to bring up his fifty off 24 balls.

In the 14th over, in the hunt for another six, Samson mistimed a shot off Jadeja and was caught on the long-off boundary. He went back after scoring 61 off 31 balls that included 7 sixes and interestingly, not a single boundary. Soon after, Pant edged one off Thampi and was dismissed for 97 off 43 balls. He couldn’t believe his luck as he missed out on a well-deserved century. He literally dragged himself back in the hut but there was a standing ovation from everyone in the crowd for a gem of a knock that had 6 fours and 9 sixes.

The score was already reading 182/3 after 15 overs and a mere formality was remaining in the match which was completed by Shreyas Iyer and Corey Anderson with the latter hitting a six to finish the game. DD won the match by 7 wickets having 15 balls to spare and got the crucial 2 points to keep their hopes of a spot in the final 4 alive.

Brief Scores:

Gujarat Lions: 208/7 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 77, Dinesh Karthik 65; Kagiso Rabada 2/28, Pat Cummins 2/30)

Delhi Daredevils: 214/3 in 17.3 overs (Rishabh Pant 97, Sanju Samson 61; Ravindra Jadeja 1/28)

Check out – Full scorecard here

Check out – Full points table here