Things didn’t start well for the Daredevils as they lost their opener Mayank Agarwal in just the third ball of the innings. Having replaced last match’s top scorer Manoj Tiwary with S Nadeem , DD knew they were light in their batting and so the duo of Iyer and Duminy were very reserved in how they built their innings. They were clever to target the 4th and 5th bowling options which are pretty ordinary for MI. Duminy had hoiked J Bumrah for two sixes in the fourth over, but yet DD’s score at the 10 over mark read 65/1. But with 6 overs yet to be bowled by the likes of Bumrah, Pandya and Pollard, Duminy and Iyer decided it was time to attack. The same number of runs came off the next five overs with even Harbhajan and McClenaghan feeling the heat once the duo got going. The 2nd wicket partnership was not broken until the 17 th over, when Iyer tried to be a little too cheeky against Malinga and had his stumps broken. But by then Iyer had made, 83 off just 56 balls and built a partnership of 154 with his skipper. The Delhi management took a wise decision to send in Angelo Mathews to counter his countrymen ahead of Yuvraj and he didn’t disappoint with a 8 ball 17. 125 runs came off the final ten overs as DD finished their innings at 190, with Duminy undefeated at 78 off 50 balls.
The MI chase never really got going as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. The openers Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel did manage to get a decent start but they both fell to outstanding fielding efforts. Simmons was the first to go as he skied one off the bowling of D Joseph. JP Duminy kept his eye on the ball at all times and adjusted his position accordingly to pull off a superb catch. Imran Thahir then caught one still running to cover the ground to dismiss Parthiv. Unmukt Chand and then Kieron Pollard were dismissed cheaply to once again thrust the responsibility on Rohit Sharma. He and Ambati Rayudu both got 30 but it was never going to be enough. Imran Thahir picked up three wickets in the 17th over to all but seal the match for DD. Amit Mishra bowled beautifully picking up two wickets.It was Shreyas Iyer who bagged his first MoM award, a superb talent staying true to his promise.
srikantkk 