Delhi Daredevils restrict Gujarat Lions to 172 for 6 despite McCullum-Smith’s blistering show in Match 23 of IPL 2016

Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith put up a commanding show and stitched a 112-run opening partnership.

Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith put up a commanding to post a respectable 172 for Gujarat Lions (GL) against Delhi Daredevils (DD) in Match 23 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 at Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla. Earlier, DD won the toss and elected to bowl. “We’re just following the trend and would look to chase down the target,” said DD captain captain Zaheer Khan during the toss. For DD, Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Shami were dropped in favour of Rishabh Pant and Shahbaz Nadeem. And, for GL,  injured Aaron Finch and Shadab Jakati made way for James Faulkner and Ishan Kishan. Live Cricket Scorecard:Delhi Daredevils vs Gujarat Lions, IPL 2016 Match 23 at Delhi

Zaheer started the proceedings by leaking 18 runs in the first over. GL openers McCullum and Smith grabbed the DD bowlers by their collar and took them to the cleaners. The duo scored fastest 50-run stand of IPL 9 off just 23 balls. They couple meaty blows with cheeky ones and put DD on the back foot. They stitched up 112-run partnership for the first wicket and laid foundation for the middle-order batsman. However, DD wrestled back in style as they sent McCullum, Smith and Suresh Raina in quick succession. While McCullum was castled with a peach of slower ball, Raina was hunted down with a well-directed bouncer by Chris Morris.

The onus was then on Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja to take the charge. However, Zaheer made an inspiring bowling change, as he introduced part-time off-spinner JP Duminy in the 16th over. Duminy’s top spin got the better of Jadeja and got the home crowd on its feet. DD conceded only 1 boundary from 12th to 16th over. What looked like a one-sided game suddenly turned in DD’s favour.

To make matters worse for GL, wily leg-spinner Imran Tahir dismissed Karthik and debutant Ishan Kishan in consecutive balls. Nonetheless, all-rounder James Faulkner gave finishes touches, as GL posted 172 runs on the scoreboard.

Brief scores:

Gujarat Lions 172/6 (Brendon McCullum 60 (36), Dwayne Smith 53 (30); Imran Tahir 3 for 24, Chris Morris 2 for 35) vs Delhi Daredevils

(Kaustubh S. Mayekar, a reporter at CricketCountry, played cricket at U-16 level. Like his idol Rahul Dravid, he often shadow-practises cricket shots. His Twitter handle is @kaumedy_.)

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