Twenty20 cricket is about momentum. Just sometimes, though, it can also be about moments.
Twenty20 cricket is about momentum. Just sometimes, though, it can also be about moments. Two of these, one of madness, and the other, of magic, encapsulated Delhi Daredevils' 10-run win over the Mumbai Indians at the Kotla here on Saturday. The man involved in both was the inspirational Zaheer Khan.
Delhi did reasonably well with the bat in posting 164/4 after Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma followed convention in deciding to chase. Half-centuries from Sanju Samson and Jean Paul Duminy helped set the target before a chance call in the Mumbai innings almost triggered Delhi's doom.
Zaheer had bowled an excellent first over, shaping the ball away from Rohit outside off-stump three times, the batsman following the line every time, There were two boundaries as well, but the bowler had made his point.
Parthiv Patel's runout seemed the inevitable follow-up in the next over for the hosts, but instead of bowling the third over, Zaheer walked off, handing the ball to million-dollar man Pawan Negi. Nineteen runs came off that weak third over and from that point, the
Mumbai Indians were well on their way. Rohit (65, 48b, 7x4, 1x6) lost Ambati Rayudu (25, 23b) but with the explosive Krunal Pandya (36, 17b, 4x4, 2x6) swinging his bat with merry abandon, the chase seemed under control. Till the Zaheer moment of magic.
Following through while bowling to Rohit in his second spell, Zaheer saw Pandya turn back and in a flash, picked up the ball and threw down the stumps at his end. Pandya was well short of safety, and, Delhi sensed a chance.
From a situation when the ball was flying to — and over — the boundary, the runs dried up. For 34 balls, between the 12th and 18th overs, Mumbai were unable to find a gap in the field even as Amit Mishra (2/24), Imran Tahir and Chris Morris (1/27) kept turning the screws. Jos Buttler and Kieron Pollard came and went but as long as Rohit was there, Mumbai knew they were in with a shout. But an unfortunate collision with Hardik Pandya — leading to his captain's runout — in the dying seconds of the chase sealed the deal, What had looked to be a walk in the park ended up being a slog in the mud instead.
Scoreboard Delhi Daredevils: Q de Kock c HH Pandya b McClenaghan 9, S. Iyer c Rayudu b H. Pandya 19, S. Samson c Southee b McClenaghan 60, K. Nair c Southee b Harbhajan Singh 5, J.P. Duminy (not out) 49, P. Negi (not out) 10. Extras: (lb3, w8, nb1) 12. Total: (for 4 wkts, in 20 overs) 164. FoW: 1-11, 2-48, 3-54, 4-125. Bowling: Southee 3-0-21-0 (3w), McClenaghan 4-0-31-2 (3w), Bumrah 4-0-42-0 (1w, 1nd), Krunal 4-0-25-0 (1w), Kardik 1-0-7-1, Harbhajan 3-0-24-1, Pollard 1-0-11-0.
Mumbai Indians: R. Sharma run out 65, P. Patel run out 1, A. Rayudu b Mishra 25, K. Pandya run out 36, J. Buttler lbw b Mishra 2, K. Pollard c Morris b Khan 19, H. Pandya (not out) 2, Harbhajan Singh lbw b Morris 0, T. Southee (not out) 1. Extras: (lb1, w2) 3. Total: (for 7 wkts, in 20 overs) 154. FoW: 1-9, 2-62, 3-103, 4-110, 5-144, 6-152, 7-152. Bowling: Khan 4-0-30-1 (1w), Shami 3-0-24-0, Negi 1-0-19-0, Morris 4-0-27-1 (1w), Mishra 4-0-24-2, Tahir 4-0-29-0.
