AB does it for Delhi Daredevils
Friday, 24 April 2009
Delhi Daredevils, inspired by AB de Villiers' superbly-paced century, held their nerve in the field to beat Chennai Super Kings in the first close game of IPL 2. de Villiers' century, the first of the tournament, came after Delhi's innings started in catastrophe and powered them to the highest total this season. Matthew Hayden charged a stiff chase with another aggressive innings and Suresh Raina's cool head kept Chennai on par with the asking rate, but Delhi won the battle of the death overs to sneak a thriller. Leading, expectedly, was the parsimonious Daniel Vettori who, after striking after the seven-and-a-half minute tactical break, bowled a decisive penultimate over.
This was a win fashioned with the bat. Tillakaratne Dilshan and de Villiers added 68 at a frenetic clip after Delhi were struggling at 8 for 2 with Gautam Gambhir - out to the very economical L Balaji first ball - and Virender Sehwag - pulling needlessly - out early. Dilshan started like a man with a train to catch, slashing 11 fours and a six in his first 15 balls. Taking a cue from de Villiers, who pulled Manpreet Gony for an easy six over midwicket, Dilshan picked the same bowler off his pads for six. Then he welcomed Albie Morkel into the attack by thumping three successive boundaries in a 17-run over. Dilshan slashed Andrew Flintoff over slip and then pulled him for a flat six. Fourty-five had been crashed off three overs and Dilshan's fifty took 24 balls. He fell slapping a full toss to extra cover.
While Dilshan was going berserk, de Villiers looked briefly like he was at the wrong party, simply scurrying down the other end with open-faced steers behind square. But once Dilshan departed de Villiers had to play host. The pattern of scoring changed from boundaries to nudges, flicks and cuts to third man. It appeared, as Chennai sneaked in 29 boundary-less deliveries and Balaji returned to dismiss Dinesh Karthik, that Delhi may have squandered Dilshan's platform. —Cricinfo
This was a win fashioned with the bat. Tillakaratne Dilshan and de Villiers added 68 at a frenetic clip after Delhi were struggling at 8 for 2 with Gautam Gambhir - out to the very economical L Balaji first ball - and Virender Sehwag - pulling needlessly - out early. Dilshan started like a man with a train to catch, slashing 11 fours and a six in his first 15 balls. Taking a cue from de Villiers, who pulled Manpreet Gony for an easy six over midwicket, Dilshan picked the same bowler off his pads for six. Then he welcomed Albie Morkel into the attack by thumping three successive boundaries in a 17-run over. Dilshan slashed Andrew Flintoff over slip and then pulled him for a flat six. Fourty-five had been crashed off three overs and Dilshan's fifty took 24 balls. He fell slapping a full toss to extra cover.
While Dilshan was going berserk, de Villiers looked briefly like he was at the wrong party, simply scurrying down the other end with open-faced steers behind square. But once Dilshan departed de Villiers had to play host. The pattern of scoring changed from boundaries to nudges, flicks and cuts to third man. It appeared, as Chennai sneaked in 29 boundary-less deliveries and Balaji returned to dismiss Dinesh Karthik, that Delhi may have squandered Dilshan's platform. —Cricinfo