D for Dilshan D for Daring D for Delhi DareDevils

D for Dilshan D for Daring D for Delhi DareDevils, well that has been the mantra for DareDevils this season. Even without Mcgrath, Maharoof, Asif contributing with the ball, Sehwag and Gambhir batting firepower like the last IPL Delhi look a complete team. The fact that Mcgrath is warming the bench shows how good their bowling attack is. Dilshan, M & M and Karthik have been a gem with the bat, stealing victories from the jaws of defeat twice in a row now. The way Dilshan punched in the air after pulling Edwards for a boundary showed the intensity with which he played his cricket; he possessed a true Dilli arrogance much like Gambhir possesses. Edwards could have put in his effort in bowling in the right areas rather than fighting with umpire or staring and using adjectives with the batsman. All it did was charge Dilshan.

It’s nice to see 3 left arm seamers bowl in a team after a long time; Nannes reduced the Chargers to 19/2 picking both Gibbs and Gilly. Bikhalia and Rohit played some good cricketing shots and kept the momentum going. Mishra and Vettori bowled in tandom pegging back Deccan to 53/4 in the 10th over. Then came Devon Smith man with a mission, “mission to swat every ball to the leg side” and he did it successfully. All he played was the midwicket slog and yet scored 48 in 28 balls; he tore Mishra and Vettori apart. Vettori never came back for his fourth over. Sangwan and Nehra came back well and picked Smith, Suman and Venugopal. Nannes bowled a brilliant 18 over just one run without a single Yorker, couple of runouts and what looked like a 160 odd at one stage ended up being 148.

Delhi got their best start of the season 30; soon they were 49/3 in the 8th over. Dilshan and Karthik yet again played the ODI kind of innings, knocking around for singles and getting the odd boundaries. We saw tidy 4 over spells from Ojha and Shoaib. 17 runs off Venugopal proved be the over which brought DD back into the hunt. With 17 needed of 12 balls it took only 4 legal deliveries for Dilshan to get those runs and also get his 3rd 50 against Edwards who was their best bowler. All Edwards did was shout, kick the turf and put his hands on in head and appreciate Dilshan’s efforts. He is the same Dilshan with a round hat who has won n number of matches for Sri Lanka in similar fashion. He now has 3 consecutive 50s at a good strike rate all in the wining cause making him a true match winner or the crisis man. Even though Nannes was awarded MOM Dilshan was not far behind.

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