Iyer rebootsDelhi campaignwithwin
FINALLY Daredevils’ new skipper smashes 93* to set up season’s record total and take team to a 55–run win vs KKR
NEW DELHI: Down and out, Delhi Daredevils found their man of the moment in new skipper Shreyas Iyer as the young batsman hit a 40-ball 93 to power the bottomplaced team in IPL to a 55-run win over Knight Riders on Friday. Adversity can sink sides or they can find ways to swim amid uncertainty. Two days after the seasoned Gautam Gambhir quit as skipper – the out-ofform batsman wasn’t in the eleven – to compound problems, Daredevils found two youngsters to show the way.
Shreyas Iyer struck his third fifty in a row, and ninth overall in IPL, to steal the show from 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw. Daredevils milked 76 runs from the last four overs, including 29 off the final over by rookie paceman Shivam Mavi, to pile up 219/4, the highest score of IPL 2018.
In reply, KKR showed the fallibility that emerges chasing a huge total as they were restricted to 164/9 despite Andre Russell (44) and Shubman Gill (37) making a belated charge. It was DD’s second win in seven games.
Once left-arm pacer Trent Boult removed Robin Uthappa (1) second ball and Sunil Narine (26 – 9b, 1x4, 3x6) in the third over and Nitish Rana (8) fell to pacer Avesh Khan to make it 46/4 in the powerplay, KKR were left trying the impossible. The Jamaican (43 no) and young Shubman Gill (37) were giving it a go when India’s U-19 World Cup hero was run out, Avesh then bowling Russell with the battle almost won.
KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik, mindful of dew that can affect his bowlers gripping the ball, asked the hosts to bat first at the Ferozeshah Kotla. First Prithvi Shaw (62 – 44b, 7x4,2x6), the U-19 World Cup-winning skipper, ensured a steady start as he struck his maiden IPL half-century and raised 59 runs with Kiwi opener Colin Munro (33 – 18b, 4x4, 2x6).
Then followed another 68-run stand between Shaw and his Mumbai teammate Shreyas Iyer.
There were 27 dot balls in the first 14 overs, but Karthik would have realised it wasn’t the side that lost by 71 runs at Eden and conditions were far more batsmen-friendly than assessed.
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla bowled the 18-year-old Shaw, but it was signal for Iyer to explode. He raced to a 29-ball fifty and his 73-run fourth wicket stand with Glenn Maxwell (27 – 18b) left Karthik running out of options.
Iyer’s six-hitting was astonishing as most of his 10 came in that phase.