Impressive comeback by Delhi Daredevils' bowlers, helped the home side overcome late Manoj Tiwary (60 off 45 balls) onslaught to register a thrilling 7-run victory against in-form Rising Pune Supergiant here on Friday.
led by Karun Nair's well-paced 45-ball 64, Delhi posted a challenging 168/8. In reply Pune were placed comfortably at 125/3 in 15.3 overs. However, a superb catch to dismiss the settled Ben Stokes (33 off 25) by Dan Christian from Mohammed Shami's bowling, turned the tide towards Delhi's favour as the hosts took the most of the visitors' downslide by giving just 18 runs away in the next three overs.
With 25 needed from the last over, the match seemed to be well and over for the visitors.
Tiwary, who was dropped twice by Delhi, kept Pune in the hunt, hitting two sixes of the first two balls from Pat Cummins. But the Australian came back beautifully, with two successive dot balls. A leg-bye boundary next ball, did not do much damage to Delhi as Cummins clean bowled Tiwary of the final delivery as the home side hung on to a thrilling 7-run victory.
As a result of the victory, Delhi consolidated their sixth position in the table, with 12 points from 13 games. Pune remained third with 16 points from 13 matches.
The home side started on terrific note on the field. The very first ball from skipper Zaheer Khan ripped the middle stump of Ajinkya Rahane.
However, some good hitting from Steve Smith and Rahul Tripathi got Pune building a good partnership. They were 36/1 in four overs.
However, Khan got the breakthrough again in the first ball of the following over. Tripathi (7 off 6 balls) tried to cut a ball but was only able to find the faintest of edges to keeper Pant. Soon Pune got another partnership going, this time Manoj Tiwary was supporting his captain really well. Infact it was Tiwary, who was doing most of the hitting at the start.
Soon Smith's patient stay in the middle came to an abrupt end. The Australian captain tried to pull the ball, but the ball kept low and he was struck plumb in front of the wicket for a leg-before as Shahbaz Nadeem got Delhi a huge breakthrough. With the skipper walking back for 38 off 32 (4 fours and 1 six), Pune were 74/2 in 9.1 overs.
Tiwary got lucky twice in subsequent overs. In the first ball of the 14th over, Sanju Samson was not able to hold on to a diving effort in the deep midwicket from Marlon Samuel's bowling. In the following over, Nair dropped a sitter inside the circle after the ball flew high off Tiwary's top edge from Zaheer's bowling. At the end of 15 overs, Pune were 117/3, still needing 52 from 30 balls.
Stokes brought the required run-rate a bit lower, by clearing the ropes over square-leg in the next over. However, Shami got his man two deliveries later. Stokes (33 off 25 balls, including 3 fours and 2 sixes) sweetly connected the ball and it was bound for six, but Anderson took a good catch in the ropes. Pune were 125/4, still requiring 44 runs from 26 balls. MS Dhoni was not able to live up to the expectations. In the third ball of the 18th over, Cummins ran out the former Indian skipper with a direct hit from short fine-leg. It became even difficult next over, after Dan Christian was trapped in front of the stumps for a leg-before by Mohammed Shami. With just eight given from that over, the visitors needed 25 of the last over. Tiwary's valiant effort went in vain as Delhi hung on to victory.
Zaheer was the pick of the pack, with 2/25, while Shami got two wickets as well giving 37 runs.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Delhi endured a terrible start.
In the very last ball of the first over, Sanju Samson was brilliantly runout by Stokes to reduce the home side to 3/1. In the first ball of third over, in-form Shreyas Iyer was caught by wicket-keeper Dhoni from Jaydev Unadkat's bowling as hosts were languishing at 9/2.
New batsman Rishabh Pant and Nair then steadied the sinking ship with a good partnership. The duo put on together an impressive 74-run partnership.
In order to contain the run-flow, skipper Steve Smith turned to fellow countryman Adam Zampa.
Initially the move didn't seem to work as Pant struck a four and then a six in the gap between deep mid-wicket and long-on. But when he tried it again, Christian took a catch at long-on to dismiss Pant for 36 off 22 as Delhi were 83/3 in the 9th over.
New batsman Marlon Samuels struck two sixes off Thakur in the 12th over and looked to be returning to form. However, he too could not make the most of his good start as Dhoni took a brilliant catch behind the stumps from Christian's bowling. Samuels went for 27 off 21 balls. After that Delhi struggled to get runs and soon the big-hitting Corey Anderson was also dismissed cheaply after Dhoni cleverly stumped him from Washington's bowling. He went for three as Delhi were losing grip at 124/5. later in the over, Nair raced to his fifty with a single down deep square-leg. But, he kept losing partners in the other side and he was dismissed in the 19th over after Unadkat took a brilliant diving catch in the deep. Then, Stokes pulled off a magnificent catch in the deep mid-wicket in the final over to restrict Delhi from getting a big total.