Mishra, de Kock combine to help Daredevils open the account : The wily leg-spinner, Amit Mishra and the ‘firebrand’ opener, Quinton de Kock played their respective roles very effectively and helped their team Delhi Daredevils (DD) to register their first victory in the current season of IPL.
Put into bat, Kings’ XI Punjab (KXIP), never got going. Losing their star opener Murali Vijay for a solitary run in the third delivery of the very second over, KXIP batsmen failed to stand at the wicket and build an innings.
Only Manan Vohra could play an innings of some significance, scoring 32 runs off 24 deliveries with the help of 5 fours.
The famous pair of ‘Double M’, Miller and Maxwell, known for brisk scoring, big hits and who alongwith the then skipper, George Bailey, had carried the team to great heights in the 2014 edition, failed yet again. Miller scored only 9 runs while Maxwell could not even open his account.
With the entire batting line collapsing, KXIP, managed only to put up only 111 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in their allotted 20 overs.
The leggie Amit Mishra, unleashed his armoury on the batsmen and was successful in picking up the wickets of Manan Vohra (32), Shaun Marsh (13), David Miller (9) and Maxwell (0). He gave away just 11 runs in his 3-over spell.
Mishra literally broke the backbone of KXIP batting line up, picking up four top order batsmen, very cheap.
Chasing 112 runs was no big deal for the DD batsmen and they did it in style losing only the wickets of Shreyas iyer (3) and Sanju Samson (33).
The duo of Quinton de Kock and Samson added 91 runs in 10.4 overs for the second wicket and placed DD at the threshold of a great and well-deserved victory.
Quinton de Kock’s half century came in 38 deliveries studded with 8 fours and 1 six. He played through the innings and remained unbeaten on a well made 59* runs off 42 deliveries with the help of 9 fours and a six at 140.47 strike rate.
DD won the match by 8 wickets with 39 deliveries to spare.
Amit Mishra, who returned with the bowling analysis of 3-0-11-4, was adjudged the Player of the Match.
Speaking at the post match presentation ceremony, Mishra said, “”I think nothing much to say. Just trying to take wickets, I got success, really happy today. Wicket was on the slower side, little effort needed to spin the ball. I wanted [to bowl the fourth over] but I supported the captain. We worked hard on batting and bowling and fielding, and it came out very well on this game. We hope to do good work in later matches too”.
“Exactly, not enough runs. Quick turnaround on Sunday, had a few chances on the field, the guys put their bodies on the line. Massive difference, momentum gets broken when you lose quick wickets. Have to look at the batting line-up,” was the reaction from a visibly upset Miller, skipper of KXIP.
An excited Zaheer Khan, skipper DD, said, “”It was required. The win was required for us. Happy with the way we put our efforts on the field. It was a good toss to win. The energy out there was fantastic. We want that young energy, you want to see that energy on the field and very happy with the way the boys threw themselves around. We kept taking wickets, Mishra was really good. We want to build momentum at the right time, let everyone express themselves freely. We are playing RCB in a couple of days, and this win will definitely help”.
