DAREDEVIL ACT
Sanju hits maiden T20 ton to power Delhi to 205/4
Pune, April 11: Delhi Daredevils put their first points on the board with a crushing 97-run victory over Rising Pune Supergiant here on Tuesday riding on Sanju Samson’s maiden T20 hundred and top-class bowling from veterans Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra.
After Samson (103, 63b, 8x4, 5x6) and allrounder Chris Morris (38 not out, 9 b) had carried their team past the 200 mark, the Delhi bowlers never let the pressure off the home side, striking at regular intervals to win with 23 balls to spare.
Zaheer led from the front to finish with 3/20, while Mishra had even better figures of 3/11 as the Pune challenge crumbled in the face of the tight bowling and an ever-climbing runrate.The two seniors were well supported by Pat Cummins (2/24).
Earlier, Samson smashed the season’s first century to power Delhi to a formidable 205/4
Samson got to his century with a straight six off Adam Zampa in the innings’ penultimate over while Morris blazed his way to 38 off a mere nine balls, helping Delhi amass 45 runs runs in the last two overs of the innings. During his 63-ball knock, Samson struck eight boundaries and five sixes, while Morris found the fence four times and cleared it thrice during his cameo.
Delhi lost Aditya Tare early, but Samson took the Pune attack by the scruff of its neck, and was soon dealing in boundaries. Samson was severe on Deepak Chahar, playing the bowler through the point region for two back-to-back boundaries, which got Daredevils off the blocks after an economical first over.
In the next over, Samson launched into Ashok Dinda for three boundaries, his off-side play standing out at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, as Delhi went along fluently. Introduced into the attack after the first timeout, Imran Tahir provided Pune their second breakthrough when he cleaned up Sam Billings with a slider that went through the big gap between the bat and body.
Billings’ dismissal paved the way for Rishabh Pant, who showed steely resolve in Daredevils’ first match, having joined the team soon after performing the last rites of his father. Pant, once again, got into the act quickly, sending Rajat Bhatia's dibbly-dobblers, first straight over the sightscreen followed by one over the long-on for maximums. Imran Tahir’s spell of 4-0-24-1 was the most economical for Pune against Delhi on Tuesday.