IPL 2017: Shreyas Iyer guides Delhi to consolation victory against Gujarat
May 11, 2017
KANPUR: Man of the Match Shreyas Iyer did all the right things to pull Delhi Daredevils past Gujarat Lions by two wickets in their IPL match at Green Park stadium on Wednesday.
The Mumbai lad was all fire and brim as he cut loose with his repertoire of shots to hit the Lions hard on their second home ground. He drove, punched, swept and pulled with confidence as Delhi chased down a challenging target of 196 with two deliveries remaining in a thrilling encounter.
Though both the sides are out of contention for a playoff berth, the victory now takes Delhi to ten points from 12 matches, while the Lions are languishing at eight with just a game to go against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday.
The defeat meant that the Lions now have won just one game in 13 matches in the tournament in two years while batting first.
Iyer was in sublime form, dominating all the bowlers from the word go after their heroes in the earlier game against Gujarat – Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson – fell without contributing much. Samson under-edged a Pradeep Sangwan delivery on to his stumps and Pant forgot to ground his bat after a close leg-before appeal off the bowling of Sangwan. And Suresh Raina, standing in the slips, was alert enough to knock down the stumps.
But, Iyer wasn’t rattled as he dominated the toothless Lions’ attack. He thumped two sixes and 15 boundaries to get his side near to the post. With seven required of four balls, he finally was yorked by Basil Thampi for 96. But Amit Mishra smashed the next two deliveries past the fence, much to the joy of his teammates.
Earlier, Aaron Finch and Dinesh Karthik provided fuel to fire as the Gujarat side posted 1955 after Zaheer Khan won the toss and decided to field. The two provided sum and substance to the score as they collected 92 runs for the fourth wicket.
