Devils roar at home

For a race written off time and again in the shorter forms of cricket, spinners have been doing a pretty good job of surviving. The odds against them have steadily lengthened — bigger and heavier bats, flatter pitches, reduced boundaries, and rules that give them almost no leeway at all.

Through it all, like crafty foxes, spinners have not just held their own, but have increasingly begun to proliferate.

None more so than the tribe of leg-spinners, who are now creating bigger and bigger spaces for themselves in team planning and strategies.

And few exemplify that guile and craft better than Amit Mishra. In him, Delhi Daredevils may have made one of the buys of this season, and how well he rewarded that faith at the Kotla against Kings XI Punjab on Friday night as the home side came off the ropes with an eight-wicket at the Kotla here on Friday.

Opener Quinton de Kock led the 112-run victory chase with an aggressive 59 not out (42b, 9x4, 1x6), his 91-run second wicket partnership with Sanju Samson (33, 32b, 3x4, 1x6) setting up the win.

Multi-crore man Pawan Negi (8 not out, 2b, 1x6) drove the final nail into the coffin with a massive six in the 14th over itself, the Devils easing home with 39 balls in hand.

Earlier, playing his 100th IPL game, Mishra bamboozled the Punjab batsmen into handing him a four-wicket haul. Varying line and length and using the full repertoire a leggie can bring to the table — leg-spinners, top-spinners, googlies et al — Mishra winkled out the Kings XI top order, the visitors managing a mere 111/9 after being asked to bat first.

After Murali Vijay was run out in a terrible mixup off a dropped catch with Manan Vohra, Mishra slalomed through the Kings XI lineup. He took out Shaun Marsh, David Miller, Glenn Maxwell and then almost inevitably, innings top-scorer Vohra too, all with different deliveries.

Mishra’s figures after that spell read 3-0-11-4, and he had even then, with nine overs to go, all but sealed the direction of this game. Surprisingly, he was not allowed to complete his quota of four, the faster bowlers doing the job thereafter.

Only Vohra (32, 24b, 4x4) made it past the 20 mark for Punjab, who managed just 11 boundaries and two sixes, further tribute to Delhi’s shape and determination. Two run-outs only served to underline their efficiency, and Punjab only just managed to hang on for the 20 overs.

Scoreboard Kings XI Punjab: M. Vijay run out 1, M. Vohra b Mishra 32, S. Marsh st de Kock b Mishra 13, D. Miller lbw b Mishra 9, G. Maxwell c Brathwaite b Mishra 0, A. Patel c Negi b Yadav 11, W. Saha run out 3, M. Johnson b Morris 4, M. Sharma c Morris b Khan 15, P. Sahu (not out) 18, Sandeep Sharma (not out) 1. Extras: (lb 1, w 3) 4. Total: (for 9 wkts, in 20 overs) 111. FoW: 1-8, 2-37, 3-52, 4-52, 5-59, 6-65, 7-73, 8-90, 9-99. Bowling: Khan 4-1-14-1, Negi 1-0-10-0, Morris 4-0-19-1 (1w), Brathwaite 4-0-33-0, Mishra 3-0-11-4 (1w), Yadav 4-0-23-1 (1w)

Delhi Daredevils: Q de Kock (not out) 59, S. Iyer c Saha b Sandeep Sharma 3, S. Samson b Patel 33, P. Negi (not out) 8. Extras: (b 4, lb 2, w 4) 10. Total: (for 2 wkts, in 13.3 overs) 113. FoW: 1-9, 2-100 Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 2-1-6-1, Johnson 3-0-28-0, Mohit Sharma 2-0-10-0 (1w), Patel 3-0-25-1, Sahu 2.3-0-27-0 (1w), Maxwell 1-0-11-0 (1w)