IPL 2017 | Pant and Samson thrash Gujarat into submission

05/04/2017

BCCI

Rishabh Pant (97) and Sanju Samson (61) led the Delhi Daredevils charge to ensure a crushing 7 wicket victory over the Gujarat Lions at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Their efforts meant that Suresh Raina’s innings of 77 went in vain for the Lions, who posted a massive score of 209 in the first innings.

Brief Scores: Gujarat Lions 208/7 (Suresh Raina 77, Dinesh Karthik 65; Kagiso Rabada 2/28, Pat Cummins 2/30) lost to Delhi Daredevils 214/3 (Rishabh Pant 97, Sanju Samson 61; Basil Thampi 1/40, Ravindra Jadeja 1/28) by 7 wickets.

Stand-in captain Karun Nair won the toss and chose to bowl, after making three changes to his side with Pat Cummins, Marlon Samuels, and Shahbaz Nadeem replacing Chris Morris, Angelo Mathews, and Jayant Yadav. Playing with an unchanged side, Suresh Raina also admitted that he would have liked to bowl first, but said that he hoped his batsmen would express themselves and put the runs on the board.

Raina makes Delhi pay for dropped catches

Nair’s decision to bowl first was vindicated by Kagiso Rabada as the youngster removed the dangerous Brendon McCullum in the second over and Dwayne Smith was sent packing, too, off the very next ball to leave the Lions reeling at 13/2. Suresh Raina should also have been dismissed early as well, but Shreyas Iyer dropped a dolly in the slips to give the Gujarat captain another lifeline. Raina made the most of his opportunity by unloading on Mohammad Shami in the fourth over with two fours and a six and thanks to his efforts Gujarat managed to reach 58/2 at the end of the power play. Raina kept the onslaught going as he brought up his half-century in the ninth over and took his side to 93/2 after 10 overs.

Karthik takes over from his captain

After a slow start to his innings, Dinesh Karthik also found his range with a series of boundaries, and he even smashed consecutive sixes of Shahbaz Nadeem in the 12th over racing away to his half centuries of just 28 balls. It was Rabada again who brought an end to the 133-run stand with a dead accurate throw to send Raina packing. But despite the loss of his captain, Karthik continued scoring at a rapid pace taking his side past the 150 run mark in just the 14th over. It took an extraordinary catch by Corey Anderson in the next over to put an end to Karthik’s brilliant 34-ball 65 knock. The quick fall of wickets meant that Delhi finally managed to stem the run flow in the next few overs. Iyer, too, redeemed himself by hanging onto Ishan Kishan’s catch in the 18th over but Rishabh Pant stole the show with an absolute beauty to end Aaron Finch’s cameo in the penultimate over. Even though Anderson removed Faulkner cheaply, two sixes from Ravindra Jadeja off the final two balls meant that Gujarat finished with a mammoth 208/7 in their allotted overs.

Delhi start with a bang

Keeping the asking rate in mind, Karun Nair and Sanju Samson came out swinging and despite losing Nair in the third over, Rishabh Pant and Samson picked up the pieces kept scoring at a brisk pace. Pant, particularly, looked to be in inspired form as he hit Pradeep Sangwan for 16 runs off three balls. By the end of the power play Delhi were looking well worth every run of their score of 63. Over the next few overs, Pant showed his power hitting prowess as he brought up his half-century in just the ninth over. Samson then took a liking to Ankit Soni in the 10th over, smashing him for back to back sixes which meant Delhi were ahead of the asking rate at 113/1 at the halfway stage.

Pant power takes Delhi home

Things got even better for the home side as the duo smoked 56 runs in the next three overs to bring the run rate down to just 6.28 with Samson bringing up his half century in just 24 balls. Gujarat finally managed to end the 143 run partnership in the 14th over, as Samson held out to Faulkner, at long off, after a magnificent 61 off just 31 balls. But Pant continued the carnage with some more incredible hitting and was unlucky to miss out on a well-deserved century as he fell for 97 when he nicked a Thampi delivery to Karthik. Corey Anderson and Shreyas Iyer then ensured that Delhi Daredevils chased down the 209 run target with 7 wickets in hand and 15 balls to spare.

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