#IPL8: #DDvKXIP

After two back to back losses Delhi Dare Daredevils were up against Kings XI Punjab. Delhi lost both their matches on the last ball. They put up a great fight. Coming into this match Delhi Daredevils' loosing streak reached to 11 matches. One more loss means and they were going to break the record of Pune Warriors which also had the record of 11 losses. Hence Daredevils were in desperate need of a win. Moreover Dlehi Daredevils got a blow as Shami was rule out of this IPL due to an injury. On the other hand Kings XI Punjab was coming into this match with one win and one loss. Kings XI Punjab was not off to that start which they got last year. So they also was looking to win this one.

Kings XI Punjab opted to bat first after winning the toss. Joseph was back in the side in place of Jaydev Unadkat. We got the news of Shami but still there were no signs of Zaheer Khan. Sehwag and Vijay began for Kings XI Punjab. While Coulter-nile was given new ball by Duminy. Sehwag and Vijay were watchful against Coulter-Nile but were taking heaps of runs against other bowlers. Delhi got its first breakthrough in the 5th over when Mathews got the wicket of Vijay when he was trying to hit another boundary. Kings XI Punjab were 33/1 after 5. Saha joined Sehwag and they started playing themselves in. Spin was introduced in the 8th over. Sehwag was waiting for that moment. He hit Tahir for a six and two fours in 9th over. Tahir was not treated like this before in this IPL. Punjab reached to 70/1 after the completion of 9 overs. Tahir was going for runs on one end but Mishra was was bowling some tight line from the other end. At the halfway mark Punjab reached at the mark of 73 at the loss of one wicket.

Sehwag and Saha were looking good Kings XI Punjab was set for a big score. Both these batsman were well in and raring to go. Punjab reached to the total of 100 runs by the end of 13th over. Mishra was brought back in to the attack after that. It turned out to be great decision as Mishra picked up the wicket of Saha in that over. On the other end Sehwag was going at everything at that stage. He decided to go after Duminy in the 15th over. Sehwag hit Duminy for a six on the second last ball of that but on the last ball Duminy invited Sehwag again to go for a hit. Sehwag went for it and got out. It was one of the slowest innings from Sehwag. Maxwell and Miller were in the middle then and Tahir came on to bowl. Maxwell came to the crease all guns blazing. He hit Tahir for two huge ones but Tahir picked him up in the same over & went on to run a marathon. Punjab were 131/4 at the end of 16th over. In the next over Duminy picked up Miller.

It was a big relief for Delhi Daredevils. If you get Maxwell and Miller early then you are saving huge amount of runs for your team. 143/5 after 18. Bailey and Akshar Patel were in the middle. Mishra was asked to bowl 19th over. You just can't bowl spinners in last couple of overs but Duminy went for Mishra and Bailey went after Mishra. Bailey hit a six and a four in that over and Akshar Patel too hit a maximum. In the last over Tahir came back strongly and picked up two wickets. Kings XI Punjab innings ended on 165/7. They were about 20 runs short. Delhi Daredevils did well to restrict Kings XI Punjab. Agarwal and Iyer began the chase for Delhi Daredevils. Sandeep Sharma was swinging the ball well so he was troubling Agarwal & Iyer with his swing. In fact he picked up Iyer in third over. Mayank Agarwal was hitting the ball well and Duminy was doing his job of bringing steadiness in the innings. At the end of powerplay Delhi Daredevils reached at 47/1. Another breakthrough came for Kings XI Punjab in 8th over. Akshar Patel ran Duminy out on the other end. It was great presence of mind by Akshar Patel which awarded Punjab a key wicket.

Yuvraj came in next and straight away Bailey brought Mitchell Johnson to bang the ball short to Yuvraj. Yuvraj played Johnson well. Yuvraj was seeing off the short stuff and punishing anything full from Johnson. On the other end Mayank Agarwal was going pretty strong. Delhi Daredevils reached 97/2 at the end of 13 overs. Mayank Agarwal brought up his 50 in the 15th over and Delhi Daredevils reached to 120/2 after 15 overs. Akshar Patel was brought in the 16th over and Yuvraj dispatched couple of big ones in that over. It was a cake walk for Delhi after that. Yuvraj reached to his 9th IPL 50 in the 17th over. It was much awaited from him. He was in form domestic season as well and he had proved that point in IPL. It was a good knock from him and now he just needs to carry on in this fashion. There was twist in the tale after Yuvraj's fifty. Anureet Singh came on to bowl the second last over and only 7 runs were required but he picked up the wickets of Yuvraj Singh and Agarwal in that over. Match went on till the last over and Delhi Daredevils won it by 5 wickets.

Daredevils finally ended their loosing streak and were off to winning ways. I feel this team is going to create magic in this IPL. Best thing for Delhi Daredevils was that Yuvraj was hitting the ball well and was among the runs now. Their next clash is against Sunrisers Hyderabad in which they will go with heaps of confidence.

#IPL8: #DDvSRH