IPL 9 Match 31, Review: Pant, De Kock blow away Gujarat Lions

The dream run for the Delhi Daredevils continued as they beat the Gujarat Lions by 8 wickets in their own backyard. DD avenged their narrow one-run loss which they suffered at the hand of the same opposition at their home venue in Delhi. Blazing knocks from young guns Quinton de Kock (46 from 45 balls) and Rishabh Pant (69 from 40 balls) ripped apart the Lions bowling attack completely and help their team cruise past the victory line with ease.

DD was set a target of 150 runs, after being put into bat by Zaheer Khan, who won the toss for the fourth time this season, and chose to field first. In reply, openers Quinton de Kock and Rishabh Pant pummeled the opposition with their aggressive approach and swiftly raced towards the target.

The reliable bowling pair of Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni were smashed for 24 runs in the first couple of overs. Suresh Raina then took the pace off the ball by introducing himself into the attack while alternatively bowling Praveen and Kulkarni from the other end.

The move partially worked for Raina as he held one end tightly with his tight bowling. But, Pant and De Kock went after the fast bowlers from the other end. The pair continued with the same intent and piled on 115 runs for the first wicket.

The pair was eventually separated in the 14^th over after Ravindra Jadeja managed to scalp the wicket of Rishabh Pant. Quinton de Kock also fell in the following over by Shivil Kaushik.

However, there were no further hiccups in the chase as Sanju Samson (19 from 13 balls) and JP Duminy (13 in 7 balls).

Earlier, skipper Zaheer Khan (1/27) and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (2/23) rocked the Gujarat Lions top order. Openers Dwayne Smith (15 from 14 balls) and Brendon McCullum (1 from 4 balls) failed miserably. Zaheer Khan was the first to strike with the ball after he trapped McCullum leg before in the 3rd over. Nadeem then snapped the wickets Smith and Aaron Finch (5 from 5 balls) off the 1 and the last ball in the following over.

Dinesh Kartik then came to the rescue, forging two crucial partnerships to save the sinking GL ship. He first combined with Suresh Raina to resurrect the innings. The pair put together a 49 run stand in 7 overs before leggie Amit Mishra broke the partnership with the wicket of Raina (24 in 20 balls).

Kartik then continued to bat together with Ravindra Jadeja to weave a 52 runs stand. The duo helped the run rate with some crunch hits to the boundary. Kartik, however, lost his wicket in the 18th over just after reaching his half-century. Jadeja (36 from 26 balls) then accelerated the innings forward in the death overs to take GL to a respectable 149/7 after 20 overs.

Gujarat Lions: 149/7 in 20 overs (Dinesh Kartik 53; Sahabaz Nadeem 2/23)

Delhi Daredevils: 150/2 in 17.2 overs (Rishabh Pant 69; Ravindra Jadeja1/21)

Man of the Match: Rishabh Pant