Neither captain was sure at the toss about how the pitch, dry and
grassy, would behave. Both wanted to chase; Gambhir won the toss. The
ball seemed to come on decently, especially at the start, although
Duminy felt the pitch deteriorated as the game progressed.
The Daredevils batsmen fell to poor strokes, and many of them came just
when a partnership was starting to build. Opener Shreyas Iyer played
some superb shots off the back foot but having motored to 31 off 24, was
bowled after missing a slog at Piyush Chawla. That ended a third-wicket
partnership of 36 with Manoj Tiwary.
Tiwary and Yuvraj Singh added 37 for the fourth wicket, the highest
partnership of the game for Daredevils, but on 32, the Bengal batsman
dragged a wide one from Morne Morkel straight to midwicket in the 14th
over.
Daredevils dealt themselves another blow in the next over when Yuvraj
strolled out after missing a sweep off Chawla and was stumped for 21 off
19.
Angelo Mathews helped Daredevils take 43 off the last five overs,
including 20 off Sunil Narine in the 19th. The offspinner had bowled a
couple of tight overs before but was repeatedly slogged over midwicket
at the death by Mathews and Kedar Jadhav. Umesh Yadav did not let
Daredevils go past 150, giving away just three in the final over.
Gambhir and Robin Uthappa were in control of the chase when Domnic
Joseph removed the latter and Manish Pandey in fifth over, both batsmen
trying to force boundaries but failing to clear the fielders.
Suryakumar Yadav clubbed a few boundaries to add 48 with Gambhir, but it
was the Knight Riders captain who piloted the chase. Putting away loose
deliveries off his pads and finding gaps through the off side, Gambhir
put Knight Riders on course. He is a difficult batsman to stop when he
is able to dab singles behind point at will, which is what he did
tonight.
Gambhir's fourth-wicket stand of 65 with Yusuf Pathan sealed it for
Knight Riders. Yusuf did not look too comfortable at the start, but he
lashed out at short balls, and stayed unbeaten on 40 off 26.
long Live SRK