Kanpur: Shreyas Iyer scored a brilliant (96 off 57 balls) and Amit Mishra held his nerves to get Delhi Daredevils over the line against Gujarat Lions in the battle of two no-hopers in the Indian Premier League at Green Park Stadium on Wednesday.
Chasing 196 for win, the scoreboard pressure was there from ball one and Delhi kept losing wickets at regular intervals. What looked would hurt them was the poor running between the wickets. They lost three wickets to brilliant run out. After losing Sanju Samson early for 10, Rishabh Pant was run out by Suresh Raina and then Ravindra Jadeja showed his class in the field getting Marlon Samuels and Corey Anderson to direct hits.
Despite being reduced to 104 for 5 at one stage, Iyer was in a class of his own. He kept hammering the Gujarat attack at will and kept the chase alive. He got to his 50 from 33 deliveries and was involved in two vital partnerships — first for the third wicket with Karun Nair (57 runs) and then for the seventh wicket with Pat Cummins (61 runs) which kept Delhi on course.
After scoring 17 off Pradeep Sangwan’s 15th over, the duo clobbered 21 off James Faukner in the 17th and Delhi then need 23 off 18 with four wickets remaining. Cummins was out for a useful 24 with Delhi needing 14 off 10. The twist came when Iyer played-on to Basil Thampi four runs short of his maiden IPL century with Delhi still needing 7 off 4. However, Amit Mishra smashed two fours from the next two deliveries to trigger wild celebrations in the Delhi camp.
Earlier, Aaron Finch, former Australian T20 captain, exploded with a 69 off 39 balls to propel Gujarat Lions to 195 for the loss of five wickets after Daredevils skipper Zaheer Khan chose to bat. Finch, who came in No 5, had his innings laced with six boundaries and four sixes.
Useful contribution also came from wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik (40 off 28 balls) and young opener Ishan Kishan also chipped in with 34.
Brief Scores: Delhi Daredevils beat Gujarat Lions by two wickets in 19.4 overs. Gujarat Lions 195 for 5 in 20 overs (Aaron Finch 69 off 39 balls, Dinesh Karthik 40 off 28 balls, Ishan Kishan 34 off 24 balls) Delhi Daredevils 197 for 8 in 19.4 overs) (Shreyas Iyer 96 off 57 balls, Karun Nair 30, Pat Cummins 24).
