IPL 2018: Match 22, DD vs KXIP - Rating of the Match

Delhi Daredevils (DD) made wholesale changes for their first home game this season as they were pitted against the in-form Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). But again it didn’t work for the home side as they failed to chase down the total of 144 runs. The visitors’ batsmen looked down and out in the absence of Chris Gayle who sat out of the game due to a sore back. But their bowlers did the job for them and mainly Mujeeb Zadran who was absolutely cool and calm under immense pressure.

Plunkett shines on debut (3/17)

Where was this guy this far? Why wasn’t he played before when the team was on a losing spree? He was signed after Kagiso Rabada was ruled out of the tournament and must have been in the first playing XI of many. But DD kept on trusting their misfiring players and missed out on this gem of a bowler.

Liam Plunkett was introduced into the attack in the 5th over and straight away made an impact by sending back the most dangerous batsman of the opposition KL Rahul. The England veteran bowled a slower ball which was well short in length and Rahul did not pick it all and tried a short-arm jab. The ball went in the air and with no pace to work at all was caught well by Avesh Khan at short fine leg. Karun Nair would’ve been gone the very next ball had there been a slip in place.

Well, Plunkett was on fire as he sent Mayank Agarwal’s off-stump for a walk in his next over. He started his spell with a plethora of slower ones and then bowed a 145 kph thunderbolt only to fox the batsman on the basis of pace. Mayank also played the worst possible shot but the way off-pole was crashed was a great sight for any fast bowler and no wonder Plunkett was thrilled.

He didn’t stop here and then came back in the 17th over to scalp yet another crucial wicket of Karun Nair who was set and was looking to go for quick runs. The talismanic cricketer had to play the earlier matches and no wonder won’t be dropped now from the team after his fully energetic spell of four overs which was split across the same number of spells.

Mujeeb keeps his nerve again (2/25)

Mujeeb Zadran, the 17-year-old kid, did it again for KXIP. He was entrusted to bowl the last and he had 17 in his kitty to defend. It was a huge call from R Ashwin to give him the ball and the faith paid off. Shreyas Iyer was in front of him who was set playing in the middle sine the 6th over. It was natural of Mujeeb that he pitched the second ball short which was thumped for a maximum.

But the next couple of deliveries were decent as Iyer could only get 2 to bring the equation down to 9 off the last couple of deliveries. The next ball went for a boundary and the pressure was immense on the Afghan bowler. But Mujeeb prevailed in the thrilling encounter as he bowled it wide from the batsman who could just scoop it to Aaron Finch in the deep.

While there was a jubilation in one camp courtesy Mujeeb’s heroics, Daredevils were left distraught for missing the victory by a whisker. But one has to credit Mujeeb who was just excellent once again in his 4 overs and is only getting better after playing every game.

But one has to give a spare of thought for Shreyas Iyer who was brilliant during his knock of 57 runs but he couldn’t take his team over the line.

Here’s CricTracker’s rating of the game:

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