The ability to find unlikely heroes has been Delhi Daredevils’ secret to success in their revamped campaign this season, and they underlined it on Saturday with a convincing 27-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League-9 match here on Saturday.
The sizzling afternoon temperatures were symbolic of Delhi’s red-hot performance, who came back from a horrendous start — from 2/2 in 0.5 overs to 186/8 — to knock the winds off Gautam Gambhir’s men.
If young Karun Nair (68, 50 balls, 9x4, 1x6) and IPL debutant Sam Billings (54, 34, 3x4, 2x6) were the heroes with the bat, West Indies World T20 star Carlos Brathwaite followed up his 11-ball 34 with a stellar 3/47, as KKR stumbled in their pursuit of a big total. Brathwaite constantly troubled them with his line and length as KKR were shot out for 159 in 18.3 overs, handing Delhi their fourth win this season. Delhi thus climbed to the second spot in the points table behind Gujarat Lions, with eight points from six matches.
A total of 186 was never going to easy on a placid Kotla track and KKR, who rely on their opening pair of Robin Uthappa and Gambhir (6), were in for early trouble when Zaheer Khan (3/21) got rid of the latter in the third over.
Brathwaite got into action soon after and single-handedly got rid of the middle over of Yusuf Pathan, Suryakumar Yadav and Rajagopal Sathish, to set the tone for the game.
Uthappa (72, 52 balls) was left to wage a lone battle and found some support in Andre Russell (17), but with the asking rate soaring with every over, it was never going to be enough.
It though seemed a different story in the afternoon. Invited to bat by Gambhir, the searing heat and early movement from Russell (3/26) did the home batsmen in, who looked in complete disarray at 32/3 in five overs.
Russell had the openers sent back inside the first five deliveries itself, with Quinton de Kock (1) and Shreyas Iyer (0) guilty of playing silly shots.
Delhi found their saviors in Billings — the 24-year-old Englishman playing his first game in this tournament — and Nair, with both showing plenty of cricketing sense.
The pair went about their job in an easy and fluid manner, making up for the early damage. Piyush Chawla was taken to the cleaners, while the likes of Sunil Narine (1/22) and Russell were handled with some patience, with the batsmen happy picking up singles and doubles.
Their 105-run (68 balls) stand for the fourth wicket took Delhi to 137/4 in 16.2 overs.
Braithwaite then indulged in some big hitting in the slog overs and along with Billings — the duo collected 37 runs in 12 balls — took the hosts to 186/8.
Scoreboard Delhi Daredevils: Q. de Kock c Hogg b Russell 1, S. Iyer lbw b Russell 0, S. Samson lbw b Narine 15, K. Nair lbw b Yadav 68, S. Billings b Yadav 54, C. Morris b Yadav 0, C. Brathwaite c Narine b Russell 34, R. Pant (run out) 4, M. Shami (not out) 0. Extras: (b1, lb6, w2, nb1) 10. Total: (for 8 wkts, in 20 overs) 186. FoW: 1-1, 2-2, 3-32, 4-137, 5-137, 6-174, 7-182, 8-186. Bowling: Russell 4-0-26-3, Holder 4-0-35-0, Narine 3-0-22-1, Yadav 3-0-33-3, Hogg 4-0-39-0, Chawla 2-0-24-0.
Kolkata Knight Riders: R. Uthappa c Nair b Morris 72, G. Gambhir c Iyer b Khan 6, P. Chawla lbw b Khan 8, Y. Pathan c Mishra b Brathwaite 10, S. Yadav c Iyer b Brathwaite 21, R. Sathish c Morris b Brathwaite 6, A. Russell c & b Mishra 17, J. Holder (run out) 0, U. Yadav c Morris b Khan 2, S. Narine (run out) 4, B. Hogg (not out) 0. Extras: (lb3, w4, nb6) 13. Total: (in 18.3 overs) 159. FoW: 1-21, 2-33, 3-58, 4-94, 5-107, 6-151, 7-152, 8-153, 9-159. Bowling: Zaheer 3.3-0-21-3, Shami 4-0-33-0, Morris 3-0-19-1, Brathwaite 4-0-47-3, Mishra 4-0-36-1.
