Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils: Yuvraj Singh and Mayank Agarwal end Delhi's losing streak
Delhi Daredevils ended their 11-match Indian Premier League (IPL) losing streak in style as they comprehensively defeated Kings XI Punjab in Pune. Requiring 166 to win, Delhi strolled to the target courtesy of brilliant knocks from Yuvraj Singh and Mayank Agarwal. The away side won by 5 wickets with 1 ball remaining.
George Bailey, the Punjab captain, won the toss and chose to bat. They opted to field the same team that won against Mumbai Indians 3 days ago, while Delhi, made one change – Domnic Joseph coming in for Jaydev Unadkat.
Sehwag helps Delhi reach a respectable score
After a brilliant opening over by Nathan Coulter-Nile that yielded just 1 run, Murali Vijay welcomed Joseph to the IPL with a four and a six. However, in the 5th over, he was sent back to the dressing room by Angelo Mathews after scoring 19 runs off 18 balls.
Former Delhi Daredevils player Virender Sehwag, along with Wriddhiman Saha, kept taking singles until Imran Tahir came on to bowl his first over of the match. The spinner’s first spell was a fruitful one for Delhi as Sehwag hammered 18 runs and Delhi reached 70 after 9 overs. The duo kept the scoreline ticking till the 14th over, when Amit Mishra got rid of Saha with a straight delivery.
Sehwag, 47, departed in the next over off the bowling of JP Duminy, narrowly missing out on his half-century. Hard-hitting batsman Glenn Maxwell then came on and was among the runs straight away, hitting Tahir for two sixes. But the South African had the last laugh as Maxwell, who was going for a third six, holed out straight to Manoj Tiwari at cover.
David Miller failed to impact the score and went back to the pavillion in the 17th over after scoring just 5. George Bailey and Axar Patel accelerated the innings late on before falling victim to Tahir in the final over as Delhi reached 165 in the designated 20 overs.
Duminy gets run out in the weirdest manner
Delhi opened with Shreyas Iyer and Mayank Agarwal, but Iyer lost his wicket as early as the third over when Sandeep Sharma bowled a short ball which the opener could only hit to third man, where the waiting Anureet Singh took the catch.
JP Duminy was the next batsman for Delhi and the South African started well, knocking the ball around to reach 21 off 18 balls. His dismissal was one of the controversial moments of the match as Agarwal knocked the ball straight to the bowler, Axar Patel, who dived to stop the ball. His outstretched body stopped Duminy and the batsman had to avoid Patel to reach his crease in time before Patel knocked the bails over. But unfortunately for the 31-year-old, Patel hit the stumps before he jumped over the bowler and landed inside the crease.
Yuvraj Singh came on the pitch to a roaring applause by the Pune crowd; the left-hander had represented Pune Warriors in the previous edition of the IPL. The swashbuckling Indian played admirably with Agarwal and steadied the innings before breaking out of the shackles.
Yuvi and Agarwal smash the Punjab bowlers
Mitchell Johnson came to bowl in the 15th over with Delhi at 102/2 and a required run rate of 10.66. But Yuvraj and Agarwal took the bull by its horns, smashing the Australian for 18 runs with Agarwal reaching his 50 in the process. Yuvraj, however, wasn’t done and he hammered Axar Patel for two maximums as the target became 31 required off the final 4 overs.
Anureet Singh and Rishi Dhawan were hit for 24 runs combined in the 17th and 18th overs as Delhi came close to ending their losing streak. But Anureet put some doubts in the Daredevils’ minds as he got both the settled batsmen out in successive deliveries.
However, with just 7 runs needed before the duo got out, the result of the match was more or less sealed. Kedar Jadhav lost his wicket in the final over, but Angelo Mathews scored a boundary to apply the finishing touches to the match.
With the win Delhi have now stopped the rot of 11 consecutive losses, getting their first win of the 2015 IPL in their third attempt. The man of the match award went to Delhi Daredevils opener Mayank Agarwal for his calm knock under pressure.