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In an opulent game of cricket, in which over four hundred runs were scored, Delhi Daredevils outbatted Kings XI Punjab, using a 146-run opening partnership to post the highest total of the season before coming back and defying some rabid hitting by Shaun Marsh to keep the chase 29 runs short. On a wicket that was expected to seam and bounce, the batsmen made merry, while Varun Aaron, India’s touted tearaway, was the least expensive bowler at 9 runs per over!

If God had prepared a green top and needed to choose the most genetically predisposed specimen to populate the New World, He would have held Adam back and put Praveen Kumar on the Earth. Captain of Kings XI Punjab Gilchrist, Adam, had reason to smile at the very start of the match; he had made the Delhi Captain Virender Sehwag green with envy after he won the toss and opted to get first use of a grass-bed of a pitch whose colour nearly merged with that of the outfield, and he also had the inimitable Kumar at his disposal. Kumar, famed purveyor of devastating opening spells, however, came a cropper this time around. His radar aflutter, he sprayed down the leg side and nullified the wicket’s advantage. Accustomed to getting back to back wickets in his first over, he went for back to back boundaries. And thus began the destruction!

In a match that was touted to be the Sehwag-Warner partnership vs. the Gilchrist-Valthaty partnership, S. and W. drew first blood – in the gallons. After having faced one ripper from Kumar, which tore through his defence, Sehwag launched into the Punjab attack like a fat kid lunges into cake. As David Warner plied in sixes, Sehwag advanced poor width towards the boundary with smooth swings; some slashes over point were typical of his class, and others were edged just as effectively. Kings XI bowlers seemed unable to wield the pitch, and while they slipped in the occasional snorter, they either erred in line, or they erred in length. Piyush Chawla, Paul Valthaty, Abhishek Nayar and Shalab Srivastava were treated with equal disdain. The 100 was reached in 8 overs, and a lot more was to come!

The openers had speedily and surely notched up their fifties, and were on their way to equalling the highest opening partnership in the IPL when David Hussey came along in a mundane bowling change. It was the bait Sehwag did not need. He swatted him out over long-on first ball, heaved a second monstrosity out of the park, and when he cracked his third over the square-leg boundary, the challenge was on. Would he complete the golden half-dozen, or fizzle away? He (77) fizzled out, mistiming a desperate fourth almighty swing flat down to deep midwicket, and the blistering partnership was felled at 146. Yogesh Nagar swung a couple of big blows before holing out for 11, Warner finally miscued one to long-on after 77 sweltering runs, and when Chawla had Aaron Finch loop one straight to sweeper cover, Kings XI looked to be prising things back. But then, Venugopal Rao showed up.

Ryan Harris had stayed respectable through his first spell, but Rao and Naman Ojha combined to bully his figures into chaos. The over began with a lifter outside off that bamboozled Ojha, and ended in a colossal 7-iron from Venugopal Rao that broke not a sweat till it reached the top tier of the stands over the straight boundary. Five more assertive whacks, and the Daredevils had marched on to 231/4 – the highest total of the edition and 9 runs beyond the highest chased down in Twenty20 history.

The night could end in one of two ways. The Daredevils could join the ranks of teams who have risen from disrepute to cause an upset, or Kings XI could create more history. They needed a Valthaty-esque innings. And they had the best proponent, the man Valthaty himself! For a short adrenalin-packed period, which saw 3 sixes in four balls, it looked like Punjab were on their way. But, the one life per match Valthaty has been accustomed to getting did not materialise this time and, unnerved by a penetrative over from Irfan Pathan, he top-edged to point for 14 in the 4^th over.

In came Shaun Marsh and, along with Gilchrist, took over from where the last wicket had left off. Thrashing short ones and full ones alike, the pair sent a barrage of power-packed shots screaming to the boundary. Delhi’s all pace attack was meant to be aided with movement off the wicket, but the only movement seemed that of the ball as it was scorched all over the park. Varun Aaron, allegedly the quickest bowler in India currently, was given a rash welcome in his first over, but came back strongly to peg back the middle stump of no less a batsman than Gilchrist (46). While Marsh seemed to biff every ball with ease, wickets fell in regular intervals at the other end. Dinesh Karthik top-edged a lifter from Ajit Agarkar to square leg for 6; Hussey catapulted a couple of gigantic maximums before falling for 20, caught trying to clear mid-wicket. The run rate was never within comforting bounds, but it had long since started to become unmanageable, thanks to Aaron’s 9-per-over-worth thriftiness.

Tonking sixes left, right and centre, Marsh pummelled his way to 95 off 46 balls, before slicing it up in the air as he went for his seventh six. As Abhishek Nayar remained unbeaten, Kings XI reached 202/6 before their overs ran out.

The Daredevils still haunt the dregs of the points table. But they are on the ascent after the striking performance tonight. Enough of the below-par batting shows, now it is back to brass tacks for the Daredevils! Now that Delhi have hit their straps in all the departments, they will receive Royal Challengers Bangalore with an uplifted mind. The Daredevils are tied on 4 points with three others, and their fortunes do not look as bleak as might have seemed till now.

Kings XI Punjab got mighty close to the superhuman target set by a dominant display of slogging by Delhi. Shaun Marsh continues to be a key man in their run for the playoffs, but the inadequacy of their middle order, once the top·four batsmen are back in the hutch, was exposed in this game. They will have a week-long break to air this defeat out of their system and meet Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens. The IPL gets cracked open after every game! How are you heart patients doing back there?

Teams:

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag, David Warner, Yogesh Nagar, Venugopal Rao, Aaron Finch, Naman Ojha, Irfan Pathan, James Hopes, Ajit Agarkar, Morne Morkel, Varun Aaron.

Kings XI Punjab: Adam Gilchrist, Paul Valthaty, Shaun Marsh, Dinesh Karthik, David Hussey, Abhishek Nayar, Sunny Singh, Ryan Harris, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Shalabh Srivastava.

Mini Scorecard:

Delhi Daredevils: 231/4 (20 overs, 11.55 runs per over)
V Sehwag 77 (48 balls) D Hussey 1/19
D Warner 77 (35 balls) P Kumar 1/45

Kings XI Punjab: 202/6 (20 overs, 10.10 runs per over)
S Marsh 95 (46 balls) A Agarkar 2/47
A Gilchrist 42 (33 balls) V Aaron 1/36

Delhi Daredevils won by 29 runs

Photograph by: YellowMonkey/Blnguyen