New Delhi: Delhi Daredevils’ jolted Rising Pune Supergiant’s play-offs ambitions, beating the visitors by seven runs in their penultimate Indian Premier League match at the Kotla here on Friday.
After restricting the hosts to 168/8, Pune fluffed the run chase, reaching 161/7 in their allotted overs.
Manoj Tiwary (64, 45b, 6x4, 3x6) made a valiant effort but came up short as Pune succumbed to their second loss in nine matches, which extended their wait for a play-offs spot.
They remain third on 16 points while Delhi rose to 12 points but stay sixth.
Pune began on the wrong note, losing Ajinkya Rahane off the very first ball of their innings. Delhi skipper Zaheer Khan turned back the clock, unleashing a vicious inswingers that went through the gate.
The onus fell on skipper Steve Smith (38, 32b, 4x6, 1x6) to build a foundation and at 36/2 in 4.1 overs, Pune’s innings could have gone either way. No. 4 Tiwary got into the groove with successive boundaries off Mohammed Shami in the sixth over. And followed up with another boundary and a six off Amit Mishra.
Pune looked comfortable after the end of their Powerplays at 53/2.
Shahbaz Nadeem broke through trapping Smith plumb with a low delivery.
Ben Stokes (33, 35b, 3x4, 2x6) took over the mantle of pushing the run rate along but perished in the deep off Shami.
Pune needed 38 off the last three overs, and once Mahendra Singh Dhoniwas run out in the 18th over, they were up against it.
Earlier, Karun Nair played a lone hand but it was enough for Delhi Dardevils to post a fighting 168/8.
The home team won the toss and took first strike but were promptly rocked by the early dismissals of Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer.
Samson had only himself to blame as he was slow to start off on a quick single, allowing the agile Ben Stokes to knock down the stumps with a direct throw from backward point.
No. 3 Iyer was undone by in-form Jaydev Unadkat’s away going delivery, nicking it to Dhoni behind the stumps.
Reduced to 9/2, in the third over, Nair (64, 45b, 9x4) and Risabh Pant (36, 22b, 4x4, 2x6) began rebuilding the innings till Nair gave the final touches at the death.
Scorecard
Delhi Daredevils: S. Samson (run out) 2, K. Nair c Unadkat b Stokes 64, S. Iyer c Dhoni b Unadkat 3, R. Pant c Christian b Zampa 36, M. Samuels c Dhoni b Christian 27, C. Anderson st Dhoni b Washington Sundar 3, P. Cummins b Stokes 11, A Mishra (not out) 13, Mohammed Shami c Stokes b Unadkat 2, S Nadeem (not out) 0. Extras: (lb3, w4) 7. Total: (for 8 wkts, in 20 overs) 168.
FoW: 1-3, 2-9, 3-83, 4-117, 5-124, 6-140, 7-162, 8-166.
Bowling: Unadkat 4-0-29-2, Thakur 3-0-35-0, Washington Sundar 3-0-23-1, Stokes 4-0-31-2 (3w), Zampa 4-0-29-1 (1w), Christian 2-0-18-1.
Rising Pune Supergiant: A. Rahane b Khan 0, R. Tripathi c Pant b Khan 7, S. Smith lbw b Nadeem 38, M. Tiwary not out 43, B. Stokes c Anderson b M. Shami 33, M.S. Dhoni run out (Shami) 5, D. Christian lbw b M. Shami 3, Washington Sundar (not out) 5. Extras: (lb1, w5) 6. Total: (for 7 wkts, in 20 overs) 161
FoW: 1-0, 2-36, 3-74, 4-125, 5-134, 6-138, 7-161
Bowling: Khan 4-0-25-2 (1w), Shami 4-0-36-2 (2w), Nadeem 3-0-21-1, Mishra 3-0-26-0 (1w), Cummins 4-0-35-1 (1w), Samuels 1-0-12-0, Anderson 1-0-4-0
