Lions survive scare
Morris’ heroics in vain as Gujarat pull off last-ball thriller against Delhi
Gujarat Lions pulled off a lastball thriller against Delhi Daredevils to win by one run in the Indian Premier League match at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium on Wednesday night.
Daredevils needed 18 off the last two overs but Lions skipper Suresh Raina found his heroes in Praveen Kumar and Dwayne Bravo, who executed their yorkers to perfection to steal a thriller.
Chris Morris almost took Delhi past the line with a heroic knock only to be stranded with an unbeaten 82 from 32 balls which contained eight sixes and four fours.
Earlier, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith smashed quick-fire halfcenturies as Gujarat Lions posted 172 for 6. McCullum plundered 60 runs off a mere 36 balls while Smith raced to 53 off 30 as the duo put together an opening partnership of 112 runs off just 63 deliveries to give the Lions’ innings a flying start. At one stage, the Lions seemed to be heading for a total of around 200 runs. But a remarkable batting collapse that saw Gujarat lose six wickets in the space of just 30 runs broke the scoring momentum.
Leg-spinner Imran Tahir played a crucial role in the Delhi bowlers’ fightback with excellent figures of 3 for 24 in his four overs. South Africa pacer Chris Morris returned a fairly economical 2 for 35 while his compatriot Jean-Paul Duminy (1 for 4) bagged a wicket in the only over he bowled. Smith was finally dismissed when he was trapped leg before by Imran Tahir with one that kept straight after pitching. The West Indies batsman played for the turn, only to see the ball hit him on the pads right on middle and leg. McCullum followed his opening partner back to the pavilion in the very next over thanks to some strange shot selection. Faced with a slowish full toss from Chris Morris that kept slightly high, the Kiwi veteran attempted a wild cross-batted swing that was neither accurate nor well timed only to lose his stumps.
Morris struck another crucial blow off the last ball of the same over when he got Gujarat captain Suresh Raina with a well directed short pitched delivery. Ravindra Jadeja then fell to Duminy when he misjudged the bounce of one that was slightly wide of off-stump.
Tahir then dismissed Ishan Kishan and Dinesh Karthick off successive deliveries to plunge Gujarat into further trouble. James Faulkner attempted a late fight back with a 13-ball 22 to help the visitors to a competitive total.