Delhi Daredevils finally broke through their horrific losing streak of 11 matches when they got the better of Kings XI Punjab by five wickets with a ball to spare at the Maharashtra Cricket Stadium in the western Indian town of Pune.
The last victory for the Daredevils was almost a year ago – a six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in a low-scoring match in Sharjah – on April 27 last year when the first part of the 2014 Indian Premier was played in the UAE.
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But yesterday, propelled by brilliant half-century knock from their star signing for this year’s campaign – Yuvraj Singh – and the promising young Mayank Agarwal, Daredevils managed to haul themselves past the target of 166.
Agarwal (68) and Yuvraj (55) shared 106 runs for the third wicket to set up the chase for Delhi, but departed off successive deliveries from the hard-working Anureet Singh in the 19th over. However, Angelo Mathews kept his nerves and a composed on-drive for four off the penultimate ball of Axar Patel’s final over sealed the much coveted win.
Agarwal, who was dropped on 42 by Sandeep Sharma off Mitchell Johnson, hit seven fours and two sixes in his 48-ball knock, while Yuvraj smashed five fours and three sixes in his 39-ball innings.
Stopped losing streak, time to start the winning one. Grt performances by young Mayank and @YUVSTRONG12 #DilDilli pic.twitter.com/lLmsSuRbDB
— Delhi Daredevils (@DelhiDaredevils) April 15, 2015
The duo came together in the eighth over with the total at 53-2 after Delhi captain Jean-Paul Duminy (21) was run out in bizarre fashion. Agarwal hit a Patel delivery back to the bowler and Duminy, who had backed up too much, stumbled over the diving bowler when trying to get back to the safety of the crease.
Agarwal smashed Johnson for two fours and a six in the 15th over and then Yuvraj hit two sixes off Patel’s next over as 33 runs in those two overs made the task a lot easier for Delhi.
For Kings XI, Anureet Singh grabbed two wickets while Sharma and Patel took one wicket each.
A relieved Duminy said: “I am pleased with the performance. It’s good that we have finally won a match and that is going to help the team. You could still see that we were tentative towards the end of the match.
“It’s great to have Yuvraj in the team, and great to have him performing. There are not many bowlers in the world who can contain him when he gets going. And Mayank is a very exciting talent.”
Gudmrng frnds. Hope u al gud ? It was a great win 4 us last nite. Thank u 4 al ur love nd support @DelhiDaredevils pic.twitter.com/cqcqFFIEL8
— Manoj Tiwary (@tiwarymanoj) April 16, 2015
Kings XI Punjab captain George Bailey said they should have got a few more runs on the board, but the real culprit were a couple of sharp catches that were dropped in the outfield and should have been taken.
“The surface was all right. A lot of guys got 20s and 30s and they did not convert. Every time we got some momentum, we lost a wicket,” said Bailey.
“I thought we got a decent score but we dropped a few chances. At the moment it is not happening for us and we need to improve,”
Earlier, Bailey had won the toss and decided to bat first. Murali Vijay and Virender Sehwag gave their side a good start before Mathews got rid of the former with the team total on 33.
Sehwag (47 in 41 balls), who seemed slightly more circumspect, added 71 runs for the second wicket with Wriddhiman Saha (39 off 28).
Imran Tahir (3-43) was the most successful bowler for Delhi.
