What an excellent win that is from Delhi. Chasing a moderate but tricky target, they resisted the urge to thrash early on, instead staying roughly with run rate before sensible hitting took them to the cusp.
Thanks all for reading, more tomorrow!
Delhi beat Punjab by five wickets! Delhi have won a game!
Mathews bumps down to mid-on, they run one.
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19.4 Mathews pushes down to mid-on, turns down the single.
WICKET! Jadhav c Anureet b Patel 3 (Delhi 165-5)
Jadhav goes for the big finish, succeeds in hammering high into the air, and it’s easily taken.
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19.2 Bailey moves more fielders into the circle, Mathews steps away to leg, eases to mid-off and they run another; the scores are level.
19.1 Jadhav turns around the corner and they run one.
Patel to bowl the final over...
Patel, Bailey and Maxwell confer...
19th over: Delhi 163-4 (Mathews 1, Jadhav 2) Jadhav plays the hat-trick ball down to midwicket, then they run a single off a well-directed yorker. Oh, Anureet! His final ball to Mathews is wide, he swings, the single they run is fine, but it’s a no-ball; here comes the free hit ... Jadhav steps away leg-side, the ball follows him, he squirts it away, they run one. Delhi need 3 runs from 6 balls.
WICKET! Agarwal b Anureet 68 (Delhi 159-4)
Surely not! Anureet spears in a yorker, Agarwal gets forward, misses with the bat, and is bowled off the pad. Delhian nerves a-twanglin’, hat-trick ball a-comin’.
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WICKET! Yuvraj c Sandeep b Anureet 55 (Delhi 159-3)
Yuvraj tries to use the pace to flip one off his toes over the midwicket fence, but the superbly athletic Sandeep chases forward, dives, and holds a eminently acceptable catch.
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18th over: Delhi 159-2 (Agarwal 68, Yuvraj 55) Delhi can get them in singles from here; Agarwal takes one off Dhawan’s first ball, and another follows, an exceedingly wide slanted across Yuvraj. Yuvraj isn’t letting go, either, standing a foot outside off-stump and forcing Dhawan to bowl at him; another wide arrives. Oh, what nasty bullying! A single then raises the hunnert partnership, and then another, and then Agarwal flays at a wide one - Anureet dives on the point fence, misses, and it’s four. Delhi need seven runs from 12 balls.
17th over: Delhi 149-2 (Agarwal 62, Yuvraj 53) Anureet is baack; he starts with a bouncer, leg-side, and Agarwal spins hard, bat like the Statue of Liberty’s torch, getting a touch and running one when he was after six. But all this does is bring Yuvraj onto strike, and immediately, he pounces, picking up a length deliveryon the bounce and flowing it over midwicket for six. It’s a no-ball, too, but naeone bothers to check or call; it doesn’t much matter, though, a wide quickly following before Agarwal waits for a short one and dismisses it to square for four. Delhi need 17 runs from 18 balls.
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16th over: Delhi 135-2 (Agarwal 56, Yuvraj 46) Patel in again - one wicket, and Delhi’s nether regions will be collectively mouthed. Agarwal gets a single, and then Yuvraj Swingh, the big easy, gets under one and launches six over long-on! And there’s another, screeching over midwicket! This is buzzing, let’s have a time-out! Delhi need 31 runs from 24 balls.
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15th over: Delhi 120-2 (Agarwal 54, Yuvraj 33) Johnson comes back for his last over, around the wicket to Agarwal, and what a shot to bring up the 50 partnership, guiding a cutter of a slower ball to the fence at backward-point. Staying around, he goes wider of the crease, and Agarwal stretches, whacking towards cover, where Sharma chases in, diving forwards and holding superbly, only to spill it as Johnson celebrates, funny bones colliding with pitch. Agarwal, though is uncowed - back on strike after a single, he stomps a stride and slashes deliberately, sending four high over backward-point, and then a wide reinforced this is a big over for Delhi. And what’s that! Johnson drags one down, bangs it in, and Agarwal follows it, shmicing over square-leg for six! That’s his fifty! 18 from the over. Delhi need 46 runs of 30 balls.
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14th over: Delhi 102-2 (Agarwal 38, Yuvraj 32) Delhi are basically doing a boundary an over and whatever else comes - provided the former is handled, that’s more than enough to get them hame. It’s Patel back into the attack - he’s got to bowl three of the last seven, which could go very wrong. But the first four balls yield just two singles and a leg-bye, before they snaffle two - direct hit from Miller, throwing from long-on, and Agarwal is gone. He misses. Delhi need 64 runs from 36 balls.
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13th over: Delhi 97-2 (Agarwal 36, Yuvraj 30) If I didn’t know better, I’d say Delhi are cruising to this. And, first ball of Dhawan’s second spell, foot to the pitch and a slightly overpitched ball clouted over long-off; he needs to see this home, now. Well, there’re three more, bumped to the cover fence where a dive saves two and we hear Quinton de Kock tells us that Delhi’s losing run isn’t “frustrating”, rather “heartbreaking”.
12th over: Delhi 89-2 (Agarwal 35, Yuvraj 23) Maxwell, who’s been seldom used as a bowler so far this year, into the attack - brave, with Yuvraj seeking runs. And there goes Agarwal, down to get under a short one and pasting a slog-sweep over long-on. Ten from the over.
11th over: Delhi 79-2 (Agarwal 27, Yuvraj 21) In comes Mitch, and, full outside off, Yuvraj shifts weight onto the front foot and presents the full face, perfect timing sending four steaming through the covers. Johnson’s not getting it right today - has there ever been a more rhythmic rhythm bowler? - and when he strays full and onto the pads, Yuvraj isnae missing out, turning away four with significant ease.
10th over: Delhi 69-2 (Agarwal 26, Yuvraj 11) With the required run rate 9.27, Bailey brings Sharma back to create more pressure and sneak in pace on the ball before the charge is on. He goes around the wicket to Yuvraj, who smashes to the man at cover, then back around for another dot. The line is spot-on after that, giving no width, but then a shorter one offers itself up outside off, and it’s pulled away forthwith. But there’s only one more run from the over, and Delhi need to get involved.
9th over: Delhi 64-2 (Agarwal 26, Yuvraj 7) Johnson in from the other end, and Agarwal nabs a single. Yuvraj must be anticipating a short one, and that’s what arrives, but the line isn’t right, it’s on the pads, and it’s also not short enough, so it’s glanced fine for four. Next: another, properly short, that flicks the bicep and earns a bye and chirp; lovely stuff. Agarwal knows what side his bread’s buttered, quickly snatching another single, and a proper bumper arrives and Yuvraj - he evades well, and Saha leaps to snatch superbly, saving spidercam from a burst mooth. Eight from the over, and let’s have a fabled time-out!
8th over: Delhi 56-2 (Agarwal 24, Yuvraj 1) Crucial wicket, that - Duminy and Agarwal looked in relative control, now they’ve got a new batsman, and Yuvraj at that, exposed to Johnson.
WICKET! Duminy run out 21 (Delhi 53-2)
Oh! Delhi! Oh! Duminy! So, Agarwal’s driven down the ground and Patel’s fielded as Duminy backs up. He stretches to get back, but Patel’s dived across his road as he shies for the stumps. He goes over the top, and there’s much revinding and replaying to see if he grounded a hand prior to the bails forsaking their grooves - but he’s gone. And this is great from Patel, who’s dived to stop and in the same movement, flipped the ball out of his hands behind him, accurately. Brilliant.
8th over: Delhi 53-1 (Agarwal 22, Duminy 21) There are noticeably few lb’s in this competition, what with nae reviews and all that. Patel has a shout, but bowling left-arm around to Duminy isn’t likely to convince anyone; they run a leg-bye. And oh, what’s this!
7th over: Delhi 52-1 (Agarwal 22, Duminy 21) Dhawan into the attack, and really, what is it with these mid-over montages. How did the meeting go where someone suggested it’d be a good idea? How do they think of these things?! Three singles and a two from the over.
6th over: Delhi 47-1 (Agarwal 19, Duminy 19) Johnson’s first ball is too straight, drifting in, and Duminy times a push off his pads that scurries down to the midwicket fence. A single gets the right-handed Agarwal onto strike, and a second slip comes in - he’ll probably want to see Johnson away and be done with him, given the relatively modest target. Two more singles from the over, and Delhi are well set.
5th over: Delhi 40-1 (Agarwal 18, Duminy 13) No, it’s Sandeep again, and he whistles one by Duminy’s outside-edge - he played, again - and then, after a single, confers with Bailey at length. Whatever’s said, it doesn’t help - he slants one across Duminy, who simply reclines onto one knee and throws hands, a thick outside-edge rushing away for four. Then, one into Duminy’s off-stump slot, pasted through mid-off, but Bailey takes the sting out of it, turning four into two. And here’s Mitch...
4th over: Delhi 31-1 (Agarwal 17, Duminy 5) Duminy is plenty good enough to knock these around and guide Delhi home, but Anureet quickly beats him with a jaffa that shapes away. He can’t help but fence, misses, just, and then seizes upon a short one outside off, spanking it for four through midwicket. One and two more to complete the over, and it might be time.
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3rd over: Delhi 24-1 (Agarwal 15, Duminy 0) Another wide, and then a dot.
WICKET! Iyer c Anureet b Sandeep 6 (Delhi 23-1)
Sandeep drags one down, and the extra bounce surprises Iyer, who can’t decide whether to hook or leave. So, instead, he glances to the backward point fence, and is done for.
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3rd over: Delhi 23-0 (Agarwal 15, Iyer 6) Sharma, who’s got a lot of promise beyond the shortest game, begins with two off-side wides; the out-swing is a little too much. This is an ok start for Delhi, this, and an inswinger that’s too straight is despatched through midwicket by Iyer for his first runs, before a dot and one sent down the ground for two.
2nd over: Delhi 15-0 (Agarwal 15, Iyer 0) Anureet in from the other end, building the tension - it’s basically Jaws, where you have to wait an hour to actually see a shark. Agarwal’s batting like Mitch is coming, and he leading edges four over mid-on, then gets another when Dhawan slides by it on the point fence.
1st over: Delhi 7-0 (Agarwal 7, Iyer 0) Great ball first up, swinging in at a lick, and it raps Agarwal on the knee roll. There’s a loud appeal, and it looks a fair one, but the umpire says no, presumably on height. Then, Agarwal stretches forward and seizes onto a shorter one, lifting it confidently over midwicket for four - he adds two more to third man, a dot, a single - thanks to an excellent stop from Maxwell at point - and over.
So, Sandeep Sharma is ready...
That’s a really good, composed effort from Delhi. At no point did they let Punjab get away - rarely can Virender Sehwag have been so relatively becalmed - and it’s impossible to conceive of their needing to chase fewer. Still, though, they’ll need to bat better than so far - I’d expect the openers to swing, and then Duminy to manoeuvre, setting it up for Yuvraj and Mathews. If Mitch, Singh and Sharma don’t blitz them.
Delhi need 166 to beat Pubjab.
They should get it, but, well you know. Either way, this should be yet another thriller.
WICKET! Patel c Mathews b Tahir 13 (Punjab 165-7)
Patel swipes at yet another wrongun and Mathews takes a decent catch.
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WICKET! Bailey c Iyer b Tahir 19 (Punjab 165-6)
Googly, Bailey swings, doesn’t get all of it, and Iyer makes a simple catch difficult, eventually clutching it against his clavicle at long on.
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20th over: Punjab 165-5 (Bailey 19, Patel 13) Tahir to bowl the closer, and he manages a dot to begin, before Patel launches him over his head. But he doesn’t get all of it, so, though it drops between two converging fielders, they only run two. And oh, there’s another good ball, wide enough to be tricky to hit, not so wide to be wide.
19th over: Punjab 162-5 (Bailey 19, Patel 10) Mishra gets the vote for the penultimate over, and his first ball is so slow that even though it’s a wrongun, turning away from the bat, Patel is close enough to the pitch to get down on one knee and abuse six over cover. Then, after a single, Bailey dances down and gets low enough to waste six more down the ground without needing all his power. Oh, shot! A single apiece, and Bailey’s dextrous enough to flip four more over his shoulder - 19 off the over. Another like that, and Delhi are in shtuck.
18th over: Punjab 143-5 (Bailey 8, Patel 2) Tahir gets the third over he’s often denied, and three singles is all that comes from the first three balls. Then a googly turns away from the left-handed Patel, beating him, and a single and two complete the over. Pubjab need something, but are showing few signs of getting it.
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WICKET! Miller b Duminy 5 (Punjab 137-5)
Miller gets down on one knee to slog-sweep, heaves too hard, misses, and departs. This is a big chance for Delhi.
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17th over: Punjab 137-4 (Miller 5, Bailey 4) So, here comes the captain to negotiate settlement again. He’s off the mark right away, turning two through midwicket, before a single, a wide, one to Miller and a chipped single.
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WICKET! Maxwell c Tiwary b Tahir 15 (Punjab 131-4)
Maxwell goes again, looking over cover this time, but he’s stretching for a leg-spinner that’s moving away from him, slicing to cover.
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16th over: Punjab 131-3 (Miller 4, Maxwell 15) Maxwell tries a lap-sweep right away, in case anyone thought he couldn’t. They run two, then he picks Tahir’s wrongun, stares him down, reclines onto one knee, and marmalises six with the spin over midwicket. He’s not of this world, that yin, and he spanks six more, flatter this time, over roughly the same area.
WICKET! Sehwag c Coulter-Nile b Duminy 47 (Punjab 115-3)
Looking straight, Sehwag slogs and slices over off, Coulter-Nile running around the boundary to hold a tricky one. 47 off 40, how oddly unSehwag.
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15th over: Punjab 115-2 (Sehwag 47, Miller 3) Duminy gives himself a twirl, presumably to test out the left-handeer, and a wide follows three singles. But then Sehwag spots a round-armer, waits, and clatters six over midwicket.
14th over: Punjab 105-2 (Sehwag 40, Miller 1) Miller is promoted above Maxwell, presumably because he’s left-handed.
WICKET! Saha b Mishra 39 (Punjab 104-2)
Saha misjudges a quicker, flatter one, hurried by the seam up. He misses and goes, bowled off-stump. Delhi needed that severely, as they said in our playground.
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13th over: Punjab 100-1 (Sehwag 38, Saha 37) Fancying they need a wicket, Delhi chuck Coulter-Nile back, and he cedes just one run from three balls, before Saha gets on in the slot. He frees his arms and swings into it hard but not too hard, clearing the fence at cover - but Coulter-Nile comes back well, with a short one and a bouncer.
12th over: Punjab 92-1 (Sehwag 37, Saha 30) Yuvraj into the attack - the batsmen will fancy that - and his first ball allows Saha to carve gently backwards of square for two. Then, two more into the covers, and four singles and a wide. Delhi won’t mind that.
11th over: Punjab 83-1 (Sehwag 35, Saha 24) Mathews returns, and Sehwag, on leg, goes with it aiming to cart over the top. But he doesn’t time it, doing well to see it bounce before the man at long-off - perhaps the pitch is two-paced. Then, after a couple more singles, Saha shimmies down the track and top-edges over midwicket- there’s a man on the fence, but it’s just too high for him.
10th over: Punjab 73-1 (Sehwag 33, Saha 16) The docility of the batsmen is kind of odd, given what’s behind them, ganting on getting in; that’s just three singles from the over.
9th over: Punjab 70-1 (Sehwag 31, Saha 15) Tahir into the attack, Saha down on one knee to lap his first delivery away for two. Then, after a single, Sehwag eases into the lunge position and chips six over long-off, before chopping four between the two men backwards of square on the off-side; Virender Sehwag is skill. Oh, and look, there’s four more , finer, but into roughly the same area. 18 from the over. And now a tactical commercial break. Get a load of that!
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8th over: Punjab 52-1 (Sehwag 16, Saha 12) Here comes Mishra, and the batsmen take a single from his first two deliveries, before Sehwag waves by an off-side wide - his younger self would’ve herniated his groin chasing that. There’s a two and a one taken from what’s left, and Punjab really need to get involved.
7th over: Punjab 45-1 (Sehwag 14, Saha 8) Mathews continues and after two dots, Sehwag takes a single that has the batsmen swerving to avoid each other. Duminy shies as the keeper wanders, and another run out chance dissipates. But that and three singles are all the over accomplishes, and Delhi still have Mishra and Tahir to come.
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6th over: Punjab 41-1 (Sehwag 12, Saha 7) Eager to get off the mark, Saha pushes to mid-off and gets on his bike. Sehwag is staring at various, so is slow to move, and a decent through from Duminy and it’s gone. But somehow, he can’t release the ball, eventually inepting it miles to the keeper’s right, and the chance expires. Then, after another scrambled single and botched throw, Saha wraps wrists around a full one to send it spiralling high over square-leg for six.
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WICKET! Vijay c Duminy b Mathews 19 (Punjab 33-1)
Vijay goes to crossbat one over the bowler’s head but doesn’t get hold of it properly, which allows Duminy to scuttle round from mid-off and take a smart, tumbling catch on the run.
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5th over: Punjab 33-0 (Vijay 19, Sehwag 11) Mathews into the attack, and despite his insurmountable coolness, Sehwag pays no heed. The first ball is short and wide, so Sehwag waits, chortles, and punishes his hands through the freest of swings, sending four to point. Mathews retorts well, though, crowding him with a well-directed slower ball, but when a single brings Vijay onto strike, he takes a decent delivery off off and crashes it for four more, again through point.
4th over: Punjab 24-0 (Vijay 15, Sehwag 6) This has been a reasonable start for Delhi, just four coming from the first three balls of this over. And then Joseph follows Vijay as he backs away and cramps him with a yorker - he cedes two leg-byes, but that was clever bowling.
3rd over: Punjab 16-0 (Vijay 11, Sehwag 4) Coulter-Nile tries a bouncer to keep Sehwag thinking - it’s called wide, but after two more dots, the commentary team wonder if he’s too quick for the batsman. Ha x 3. The last ball is back of a length, and he studiously swings - not hard, just using the aforementioned pace - and there’s four over point.
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2nd over: Punjab 11-0 (Vijay 11, Sehwag 0) Joseph - who was plucked from league cricket, and is now 34 - from the other end. Vijay cracks his second ball for four to long-on, and should do the same to his fourth, short again, but finds the fielder. But what a shot comes shortly afterwards, a mammoth six picked up from a delivery outside off-stump, the bat applied like Zangief’s upper-cut.
1st over: Punjab 1-0 (Vijay 1, Sehwag 0) Excellent from Coulter-Nile first up, swinging away and taking Vijay’s edge - he’s unsure whether or not to play - but he gets it into the turf prior to slip, where Yuvraj grasses it anyway. Then a play and miss, and then, from wider of the crease, one into the pad. Vijay gets underway off the fifth ball, paddling away towards point, and then Coulter-Nile gets one to bounce, leaving Sehwag as he hangs his bat. Very good start.
Coulter-Nile is warming up - he was good in Delhi’s first game, less so in their second. They need a performance from him today.
Here come Vijay and Sehwag!
Apropos of nothing whatsoever.
Share the wealth, 2: Tom Stoppard’s new play, The Hard Problem. No nods to niceties like plot, dialogue and character, but still a thrill to hear him discuss consciousness with himself.
Mark Butcher is having a haircut! Yes, really!
Share the wealth, as every Game of Life player learnt to do. So, Do No Harm, the memoir of a consultant neurosurgeon, is a beautiful, fascinating and thought-provoking book.
But let’s not get too heavy on Delhi - though they’re missing a strike bowler and a thug at the top of the order, they’ve more than enough to sort Punjab if they get it together. Their problem, I guess, is the amount of money spent on Yuvraj, who, though an indisputable boss, is past his best and susceptible to quick stuff.
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Punjab win the toss and will bat
JP Duminy says Delhi would’ve batted too, but given their difficulties, perhaps they’ll be better served fielding first, as any club cricketer knows to do when playing a superior side.
Preamble
Think of a number, any number, between 11 and 11. Bet it’s 11! It is? Good choice, nice round figure! That’s extra sensory perception, that is!
11 is also the number of consecutive fixtures lost by Delhi Daredevils, joint worst in IPL history. Today, at Punjab, they’ll try to make it 12, because what could be more daredevilacious than that?
