Saturday night saw Delhi Daredevils live up to their pre-tournament hype by pulling off a close victory against the Punjab Kings XI in Mohali with 1 ball to spare. The captain’s knock from Gautam Gambhir of 72 (54b, 9x4’s, 1x6) meant that any hopes that the Kings XI had of defending their modest score of 142 was destroyed. It was not an ideal start for Delhi though, with Sreesanth accounting for the destructive duo of Sehwag and Dilshan, the score at 10/2. And when De Villiers was run out by a quick throw from Jayawardene to the bowlers end, at 45/3, it seemed that the match could go either way.
But sensible batting from Gambhir and partnerships with Dinesh Karthik (20 off 18 balls, 3x4’s) and the unbeaten Mithun Manhas (31 off 24 balls, 2x4’s), ensured Delhi got home with just enough to spare. 12 runs of 4 overs for Delhi’s Dirk Nannes, Maharoof’s 2 quick wickets of Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh and regular fall of the other wickets meant that Punjab Kings XI could muster up only 142 runs in their 20 overs for the loss of 9 wickets. This, despite a 48-ball 56 from Ravi Bopara and a 60 run stand with Irfan Pathan, who was stumped by Karthik off Dilshan for 21 off 16 balls.
Earlier in the afternoon, the home team, Mumbai Indians came out tops , but only just, after having set a target of 212 for Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals. A rampaging Yusuf Pathan for Rajasthan, with the fastest century of the IPL and second fastest T20 century (37b, 9x4’s, 8x6’s), mixed aggression with finesse for a breathtaking batting display that almost took the match away from the Mumbai Indians.
With 19 required of the last 12 balls, it was left to some accurate death bowling by Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga which saw Mumbai win by 4 runs. When Yusuf walked in, Rajasthan needed a highly improbable 143 off 57 balls, having lost their first 4 wickets for 66 runs, which included a great caught and bowled effort from R. Satish to dismiss the potentially dangerous Graeme Smith. Such was Yusuf’s impact, that when he left, the equation had come down to 40 off 17 deliveries. Again, R. Satish was in play, again as a bowler, back flicking a straight drive from the batsman and catching Yusuf, who was at the non-strikers end short of his crease.
For Mumbai, Jayasuriya and Tendulkar could only kick-start the innings, but could not build further on it, with Jayasuriya caught in front of the wicket by Amit Uniyal off a slower ball for a 14-ball 23. It was then left to the younger Indian players, Ambati Rayudu (55 from 33 b, 6x4’s, 2x6’s) and Saurabh Tiwary (53 from 33 b, 4x4’s, 2x6’s) to take Mumbai Indians to their highest ever score of 212/6. In the end, this proved to be just enough, while Rajasthan will be ruing amongst other things, their 9 wides, 6 of them from an out-of- sorts Shaun Tait.
The IPL weekend started on Friday evening with the opening ceremony at Navi Mumbai, which included a string of performances from UB40’s Ali Campbell to Bjorn Again to Lionel Ritchie, the stadium additionally lit up with some laser shows and the jewellery of Deepika Padukone. Not quite the spectacle, one thought, until Kolkatta Knight Riders took on last years champions, Deccan Chargers in a see-saw humdinger, and emerged victorious, making it clear that once all the razzmatazz is peeled off, IPL is really about cricket and some fantastic cricket at that.
Scores
Mumbai Indians – 212 for 6 in 20 overs (S.T. Jayasuriya 23, Sachin Tendulkar 17, A. Tare 23, S.S. Tivari 53, A.T. Raydu 55; Dimitri Mascerenhas 2 for 34, S. W. Tait 1 for 46, A. Uniyal 2 for 41)
Rajasthan Royals – 208 for 7 in 20 overs Y.K.Pathan 100, P. Dogra 41, Lasith Malinga 2 for 22, A. D. Murtaza 1 for 46,R. Satysh 1 for 51)
Kings Punjab XI – 142 for 9 in 20overs (Ravi Bopara 56, Kumar Sangakkara 17, Irfan Pathan 21, S. Srisanth 15, D.P. Nannes 2 for 12, Farvaiz Mahroof 2 for 37, P.J. Sanguwan 1 for 32, A. Mishra 1 for 23, B.Y. Mahesh 1 for 23, T.M. Dilshan 1 for 7)
Delhi Daredevils –146 for 5 in 19.5 overs (Gautham Ghambir 72, K.D. Karthik 20, M. Manhas 31 n.o; I.K. Pathan 1 for 27,S. Srisanth 2 for 24,Y.A.Abdullah 1 for 30)
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