16 April,2017 10:02 AM IST | | Santosh Suri
It was Delhi Daredevils' first match at home and it took some guts for their skipper Zaheer Khan to bat first. But he was right. Zaheer relied on his top-class bowling combination and they restricted Kings XI Punjab to 137-9 in 20 overs after putting 188-6 on the board
Sam Billings
Daredevils' Sam Billings after his fifty against KXIPunjab in New Delhi on Saturday. Pic/PTI
Delhi: It was Delhi Daredevils' first match at home and it took some guts for their skipper Zaheer Khan to bat first. But he was right. Zaheer relied on his top-class bowling combination and they restricted Kings XI Punjab to 137-9 in 20 overs after putting 188-6 on the board.
A chase of 189 was never going to be easy on the sluggish Ferozeshah Kotla pitch, even though the rivals had some good hitters. Zaheer's tactics proved correct as leftarm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem in the initial overs and later leggie Amit Mishra ensured the home team a victory by 51 runs. Axar Patel was the lone man standing with an unbeaten 44 off 29 balls.
KXIP required their top order to fire, but they kept losing wickets and were never in control of the chase. What hit them hard were the 35 runs they conceded in the final two overs of the DD innings, which changed the complexion of game dramatically. Yet, had one of the KXIP batsmen hung around, things could have been different.
Batting first, Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant and fit-again Shreyash Iyer got starts for Daredevils. But they could not make the most of it and it was left to opener Sam Billing to guide the Daredevils innings with a fine half-century.
