Dilshan blasts Delhi to victory by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Scorecard:	Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils
Player:	DR Smith, TL Suman, DP Nannes, TM Dilshan, KD Karthik
Event:	Indian Premier League 2009

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DateLine: 30th April 2009

 

Tillekeratne Dilshan overcame some fiery stuff from Fidel Edwards to spew some flames of his own as he guided Delhi Daredevils to what panned out to be a pretty impressive win over the marauding Deccan Chargers, a win that put them on par in terms of wins.

 

Deccan lost the match in the opening slot, both with the bat and the ball. After being sent in to bat, they for the first time, lost skipper Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs early, and while bowling, didn’t find much joy from Edwards, who was blasted out of the attack, both at the beginning and the end of the Delhi innings.

 

Dilshan remained unconquered, countering everything from an incensed Edwards, ending the innings with a flat six over square-leg and some words to the bowler. Edwards on his part, was extremely unhappy with the wides being called against him and lost the plot, completely forgetting the searing yorkers that had done the trick for him in previous games.

 

While Deccan were short of their target, they had a pretty good beginning with the ball, Virender Sehwag once again got off the starting block only to give it away. Gautam Gambhir too didn’t last long.

 

But the real setback for Delhi was the loss of AB de Villiers for only five runs, and that was the time when Delhi looked a bit rattled.

 

But they have frequently found the class of Dilshan and the grit of the other batsmen coming to their aid, and this time around the Sri Lankan found a great ally in the unrated Dinesh Karthik, as they put up 79 runs for the fourth wicket before Karthik departed for a well compiled 41, with the aid of three boundaries and a six.

 

Dilshan, who got into a real battle between with Edwards towards the end of the game, conquered a hit on the helmet to blast out a win and an unbeaten 52 off 46 balls with four fours and three sixes.

 

The Deccan Chargers came across a situation they haven’t experienced so far in this edition of the tournament, where they lost their big guns, skipper Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs, within three overs with next to nothing on the board.

 

Azhar Bilakhia and Rohit Sharma didn’t seem to be used to the whole thing, of building an innings which has largely been done by the openers so far, and struggled to get to terms with the spinners Daniel Vettori and Amit Mishra, ultimately falling to them respectively.

 

T Suman found himself coming into a pretty hairy situation, of 53/4 in 9.2 overs. Suman, brought in to replace VVS Laxman, had big shoes to fill, and to his credit, the youngster did a pretty decent job of it, especially when he found the reassurance of a Dwayne Smith on the other end.

 

Smith has been an enigma in West Indian cricket for a long time, an all-rounder who should have been an integral part of the side, but has somehow always been outside the preferred lot. But he came good for Chargers right when it looked like they were going to be out of business well before their quota of 20 overs.

 

Smith took on Vettori in the 12th over of the innings, belting 16 runs and then he and Suman took on Mishra in the next over, notching up 20 more. They put up 57 runs for the fifth wicket in double quick time and that kept Chargers in the running before Suman was dismissed.

 

Smith continued on his merry way, clattering the bowlers all over the park before he played too early off Ashish Nehra to hole out to Vettori. But he had done enough damage by that time, having scored 48 off 28 deliveries with five boundaries and a six.

 

Delhi’s brigade of left-arm bowlers did enough to keep the formidable Deccan batting under check, and Nannes was a revelation, 2/16 from four overs. Nehra and Pradeep Sangwan also chipped in, as did Vettori and Mishra.