Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj Singh picked up four wickets with the ball after scoring 66 with the willow but his all-round display wasn’t enough to prevent Delhi snatching victory from the jaws of defeat to condemn the Pune Warriors to their first loss as a franchise. The victory helped Virender Sehwag’s guys get off the mark in the fourth edition of the IPL after they had slumped to huge losses in their opening two games.
It all looked lost when Delhi were left needing 41 runs to win off the last three overs. But Finch, Venugopal Rao and James Hopes struck a few lusty blows in the end as Delhi managed to pull off the impossible and lay hands on their first points of the tournament. Finch first hit Wagh for a couple of sixes before he fell to Yuvraj in the first ball of the nineteenth over. But Venugopal carried on the momentum with a six and a four before holing out to deep midwicket leaving the Daredevils with 8 to win of the last over. James Hopes struck the first ball for a six before carving a boundary over the point fielder as Yuvraj was left pondering of what could have been.
The first half of the show was equally entertaining after Delhi chose to bowl after winning the toss. Ryder got into the thick of action right away launching Venugopal for two huge sixes over the long-on boundary. Smith’s dismissal in the fourth over had no effect whatsoever on Ryder as he continued the assault as he took Pathan for 14 runs in the fifth over and then welcomed Umesh Yadav with three consecutive boundaries. The Pune skipper walked into bat with the score reading 76/2 in the ninth over and it was a perfect platform for him to cut loose. Ryder got to his half century in 24 balls before falling to the young Nadeem at the end of the tenth over. Nadeem also picked up the all important wicket of Uthappa as the run rate dipped as the Warriors looked to rebuild their innings. Runs came at a pretty decent pace but it was the last over from Dinda that hurt Delhi the most. After top edging a bouncer to the boundary, Yuvraj gave Pune the final flourish as he hit the last three balls out of the park to finish unbeaten on an astounding 66 of 31 deliveries. 26 runs from the last over meant that Delhi were set an imposing task of 188 for victory.
Delhi had a silent start to their innings before Warner exploded in the third over hitting Parnell for three boundaries in the third over before hitting Thomas for 16 runs of 3 deliveries in the fifth over as Delhi reached 67 at the end of the Powerplay. Warner was unfortunate to be run out for 46. Sehwag lived dangerously during his innings of 37 before being bowled by Ryder in the tenth over. Yuvraj came onto bowl for the first time in the tournament and he struck right away dismissing Pathan and Ojha of consecutive deliveries as Pune tightened their grip on the match. Wade didn’t last long either as the required run rate went up to 12 with five overs remaining. Another tight over from Yuvraj meant that the Daredevils needed 41 to win from the last eighteen deliveries before Finch and Venugopal Rao took the match into their own hands.
The win moved Delhi from the bottom of the table into ninth place while Pune remained on top despite the loss as the fourth season of the Indian Premier League continued to spring up surprises.
Tags: Cricket, Delhi Daredevils, Indian Premier League, IPL, IPL 2011, IPL 4, Pune Warriors, Yuvraj Singh
