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.
#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.