Delhi Daredevils’ obsession with retaining the winning momentum continued unabated at the packed Wanderers here on Sunday night when they trounced bottom-placed Kolkata Knight Riders with plenty to spare. Their seventh win in nine games gave them 14 points – and the top spot on the DLF Indian Premier League table.
AB de Villiers offered Delhi Daredevils some deep insight into the track at the Bull Ring, as the Wanderers ground is known. That mean Gautam Gambhir had no hesitation in giving his bowlers first use of the pitch. Ashish Nehra and Dirk Nannes responded with enthusiasm and reduced the Knight Riders to nine for three in the second over.
Nehra may have been fortunate in getting Brendon McCullum leg before one delivery after the Knight Riders captain pulled him for six. But he induced an edge from Brad Hodge three balls later to set Delhi Daredevils off to a rousing start. This put him in joint second place in the list of wicket-takers along with Yusuf Abdulla and Lasith Malinga (14 each) behind RP Singh (15).
Nannes backed that up by getting Morne van Wyk to pull straight to Rajat Bhatia at specially positioned square-leg. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra enjoyed himself by claiming three for 14 in his four over to shatter any escape plans by the Knight Riders.
The gallant Sourav Ganguly (44) at the top and Ajit Agarkar (39) at the end were the batsmen who defied Delhi Daredevils but there was pretty much nothing else from the others as Knight Riders perished to a poor batting display.
A score of 123 for eight in 20 overs was never going to be enough to challenge Delhi Daredevils, even though the gangling Ishant Sharma came back for a second spell to claim the wickets of David Warner (36) and Tillekeratne Dilshan (1) in one over and cause some excitement among the Knight Riders fans.
Then again, AB de Villiers played the steadying hand with a knock of 40 not out. He found a useful ally in Dinesh Karthik who made 17 of the 56 runs that the pair added to see the side home. de Villiers showed that even if there were not too many South African players in the Delhi Daredevils squad, he would count not only with his batting but also with his inputs.
Delhi Daredevils have now won a series of games without their regular captain Virender Sehwag. They have five league games to go before the semifinals but have installed themselves as the team to beat, even ahead of Chennai Super Kings. The kind of confidence the team has exuded and their sense of purpose set them on course to being favourites.
As for Kolkata Knight Riders, they are now left with a mere three points and a lot of introspection to do after 10 points. They have a slim theoretical – and some would argue, fairytale – chance of making it to the last four. They will have to go back to the drawing board – again, some would argue that they must not go that.
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