IPL 2017: Fifties from Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik propel Gujarat Lions (GL) to 208 for 7 against Delhi Daredevils (DD) in IPL 10, Match 42

Riding on skipper Suresh Raina’s blistering 77 and Dinesh Karthik’s splendid 64, Gujarat Lions (GL) posted 208 for 7 in 20 overs against Delhi Daredevils (DD) in Match No. 42 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. Put in to bat first by stand-in captain Karun Nair, Gujarat did not have the best of the starts, losing 2 wickets for 10 runs. But Raina and Karthik not just bailed their team out of trouble, but also laid a solid foundation for a huge score by hitting crucial fifties. For DD, Kagiso Rabada and Pat Cummins took 2 wickets apiece while Corey Anderson took 1 wicket. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD, Delhi Daredevils vs Gujarat Lions – Match 42

It was hardly surprising that Nair would opt to field: DD had won their previous fixture chasing against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the same venue a couple of days back. However, the surprise was Chris Morris missing out on this game. Angelo Mathews and Jayant Yadav also missed the game, making way for Cummins, Shahbaz Nadeem and DD debutant Marlon Samuels. Gujarat fielded an unchanged XI from their previous game.

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The one change that Gujarat made though was promoting Dwayne Smith to open the innings. He did justify it, hitting consecutive fours off first two deliveries of GL innings. The momentum that GL got though was short-lived as Brendon McCullum fell on the first ball of the second over. He perished to a peach of a delivery from Rabada and an equally good catch by Rishabh Pant, who dived to his right to complete a stunner. There was more misery in store for GL as Smith was run out the next ball following a mix-up in the middle. Nadeem’s direct hit found him short of his ground.

As things turned out, this remained DD’s only success for a long time. In the same over, Raina got a life as Shreyas Iyer dropped him off Rabada. Barring that dropped catch, however, Raina and Karthik did not give away anything to DD as they joined forces to stitch a 133-run third-wicket stand. Raina welcomed last game’s Man of the Match Mohammed Shami with a six and two fours in his first over. He followed it up with a good over off Rabada.

Karthik then came to the party, collecting multiple boundaries off Cummins’ and Amit Mishra’s overs. Boundaries kept flowing as Samuels and Nadeem were hit for plenty in their spells as well. A huge six by Karthik in 12th over bowled by Nadeem brought up Gujarat’s first century stand in IPL 2017. Raina too kept on picking boundaries virtually every over.

Just when it looked like Raina will get a hundred, he was run out for 77 off 43 balls against the run of play. Karthik too perished soon after after a Corey Anderson screamer sent him packing for 34-ball 65. Collectively, the two batsmen hit 10 fours and 9 sixes.

The two quick wickets pegged Gujarat back a bit, as they were once looking to cross the 225-run mark. DD kept making inroads in the latter stages as Ishan Kishan (4), Aaron Finch (27) and James Faulkner (1) all fell trying to accelerate. Finch’s dismissal came off another screamer, this time by Pant. Ravindra Jadeja finished off with sixes off final two deliveries, thus pushing the score beyond 200.

Brief scores:

Gujarat Lions 208 for 7 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina  77, Dinesh Karthik 64; Kagiso Rabada 2 for 28, Pat Cummins 2 for 30) vs Delhi Daredevils