#IPL8: #DDvKKR

Delhi Daredevils took on Kolkata Knight Riders in match 17 of IPL season 8 at Kotla. Delhi came into this match after two successive wins. While Kolkata too snatched a victory in their last game by using the ability of Russell. Russell is giving them full value for money. On the other hand Delhi's skipper Duminy is leading from the front. In addition to that he is in good form with both bat and ball. Both the teams were high on confidence and were looking to win this game.

Gambhir won the toss on his home ground and elected to field first. It was a different wicket and he didn't knew what's the good score on that. Before the start of play both the teams observed silence for the U-19 Bengal skipper Ankit Keshri. Another on-field death. It's sad that this gentleman's game at times become fatal for some gentleman. Agarwal took guard against Yadav who was going to ball the first over for KKR. Delhi was not off to a great start. Agarwal got out in the second over. Again the task of building the innings was on the shoulders of Duminy and Iyer. Iyer tried to cut loose in the 4th over. He picked up 10 runs in that over bowled by Morkel. Gambhir brought Narine into the attack in the 5th over. Gambhir always give Narine an over in powerplay and it works for him more often than not. It worked again for Gambhir again. Narine rattled the furtinure of in form Duminy on the third ball of his over. Delhi Daredevils were struggling at 26/2 after 5 overs.

Manoj Tiwary joined Iyer in the middle. Tiwary was picked up in this match because he has played with KKR earlier so he knew their players better. After that over Russell and Chawla were brought into the attack. Chawla was bowling well so they attacked Russell. Both of these batsmen picked up 19 runs from the Russell' s two over spell. In 9th over Chawla knocked Iyer over as Iyer missed a straighter one from Chawla. Yuvraj joined Manoj Tiwary in the middle. After 10 overs Daredevils were 69/3. Tiwary took his time in the middle and was set for the big knock. On the other hand Yuvraj too was having a good look at the pitch. In the 14th over Morkel was brought back into the attack to bowl his last over. With Yuvraj on strike strategy was to bowl short. First ball. Yuvraj edged one on to his pads. Next ball was dropped short by Morkel and Yuvraj smacked it over mid wicket. It was a meaty blow from Yuvraj. Many people says that he struggles against short ball but I feel he is one of the best pullers of the cricket ball.

Yuvraj gave strike back to Tiwary but Morkel proved to be too good for Tiwary. Tiwary was unable to read loopy bouncer from Morkel and hit straight into the hands of Pathan. After 14 overs Delhi reached to a total of 96 at the loss of 4 wickets. After Morkel, Chawla was asked to bowl his last over and he picked up the wicket of Yuvraj. Yuvraj went for the sweep and left the crease but the ball caught the bottom edge and went to the wicket keeper. Yuvraj didn't know where the ball went. By the time Yuvraj realised that ball is in Uthappa's hand he broke the stumps. Then Jadhav took attack on Narine in the 17th over. He hit four and a six to Narine in that over but Yadav picked Jadhav's wicket in the next over. After Jadhav it was Mathews' turn to hit Narine. He hit 2 sixes and a four to Narine in the 19th over. After that again Yadav bowled a superb last over. He didn't give anything away. He conceded only 3 runs in that. More importantly two wickets were fallen in that over. Delhi Daredevils finished on 146/8 off their 20 overs. Daredevils were 30 runs short considering the Kotla wicket.

Delhi started their bowling attack with Joseph and Coulter-Nile. Gambhir and Uthappa gave Knight Riders a steady start. Kolkata were 13/0 after 2. 3rd over was given to Mathews and Gambhir hit two fours to him in that over. He conceded 11 runs in the third over and a steady start was converted into a good start. Delhi got breakthroughs in the fifth over. Joseph first picked up Uthappa on the first ball and then Pandey on the 4th ball of that over. Though Gambhir hit boundary but two wickets in that over brought Daredevils back in the game. Kolkata from 31/0 in 4 overs reached to 35/2 by the end of 5th over. Gambhir was not giving any chance to Mathews to settle down. He again hit two boundaries to him in the 6th over. After powerplay Duminy staright away brought spin into the attack. Tahir kept things tight from one end. Seeing that Duminy gave the ball to Coulter-nile to pick a wicket or two in 10th over. Coulter-Nile lived upto the expectations of Duminy. He picked up the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav in that over. Yadav tried to play one to the third man but only managed to find an edge.

After 10 overs Knight Riders were 79/3. 79 in 10 overs was a good score if you are chasing 147. Pathan joined Gambhir in the middle and both of them played sensible cricket from that point. Both of them were dispatching every loose ball towards the boundary and Daredevils were bowling atleast one loose delivery every over. Gambhir brought up his third fifty of the season in style. On the first ball of the 14th over Gambhir pulled Mathews magnificently over deep mid-wicket to bring up his half century. KKR were 111/3 by the end of 14th over. Coulter-Nile was brought back into the attack in 16th over. Delhi Daredevils were in desperate need of wicket but Pathan had some different plans. It looked like he waiting for Coulter-Nile. Pathan hit 3 fours to him in that over and assure the victory for KKR. After that over KKR needed 16 runs in 4 overs with 7 wickets in hand. Duminy trusted his spinners more than fast bowlers in slog overs. Hence he gave 18th over to Tahir and he was welcomed with a six by Pathan.

Pathan hit an awesome six to Tahir on the second ball of the 18th over. After giving 8 runs in that over Tahir picked up the wicket of Gambhir but that wicket came too late for Delhi Daredevils. At that stage KKR needed only 3 runs to win the game. Doeschate took two deliveries to score those 3 runs and KKR registered comfortable victory over Delhi Daredevils. Umesh Yadav bowled a superb spell first up and then Gambhir and Pathan showed a great maturity to take their team home. Umesh Yadav was awarded man of the match. Delhi's bowling was exposed again. It has been their weak link in this IPL. Delhi's batsmen has to take the responsibility if they want to qualify for play offs. Delhi Daredevils will take on Mumbai Indians next at home. Let's how they perform in that match.

#IPL8: #DDvMI