In the lively Supersport park,the Delhi and Rajasthan captains walked in for the toss. The Daredevils captain Sehwag won the toss and decided to bat first. While Delhi made no changes to their team, Rajasthan had one change. Paul Valthaty came in for Abhishek Raut.
After a blazing start by Sehwag, the Delhi team once again lost quick wickets including skipper Sehwag at the top. Gambhir got out early in the innings thanks to a great catch by Warne off Mascarenhas' bowling. Mascarenhas struck again in the same over dismissing the dangerous Sehwag after Kamran Khan kept his eyes on the ball and latched onto a skier.
Once again it was left to the pair of Villiers and Dilshan to do the repair work. However, things did not work for Delhi when Dilshan was the third wicket to go for Delhi. He mis-hit a pull to Asnodkar off Munaf Patel's bowling. Delhi at this stage were struggling at 38/3. The Rajasthan captain Shane Warne came into the attack in the 8th over and immediately picked up the fourth wicket for the Royals. Dinesh Karthik was tricked by a flighted delivery off Warne and was out to a leading edge caught by the bowler. The next man in, Daniel Vettori, got a lucky break when he edged a Munaf delivery to the slips but a no-ball was called by the umpire as the bowler had over-stepped.
Delhi went into the break at 66/4 with Vettori and de Villiers at the crease. The session after the break started steadily for Delhi. While de Villiers was looking in good touch, the New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori gave him company, playing for singles and rotating the strike.
During the process, Rajasthan missed a run-out opportunity and de Villiers survived. The batting pair continued to pile on the runs as Delhi reached the 100 run mark in the 15th over. The pair also reached their 50 run partnership in the same over. de Villiers reached his 50 with a boundary off Shane Warne. However, the very next delivery led to his dismissal when the batsman was wrongly adjudged LBW by the umpire Gary Baxter while Shane Warne picked up his second wicket. Mithun Manhas joined Vettori and the pair hit some lusty blows between them. However, Vettori was bowled by Munaf in the 19th over when the batsmen tried to make room. Kamran Khan got his first wicket of the match when he broke through the defences of Amit Mishra in the final over. After losing quick wickets at the top Delhi finished off their innings at 142/7 mainly due to the efforts of de Villiers, Vettori and Manhas.
Rajasthan started off the chase in a quick fashion with Smith and Quiney opening the innings. Smith looked good at the crease with boundaries flowing freely off his bat. Delhi got their first break-through when Nehra trapped Quiney LBW. The Goan Asnodkar came in at number three and struck some lusty blows. However tragedy struck when a direct hit by Amit Mishra found Asnodkar short of his crease.
The Royals had another setback when Valthaty holed out to Vettori at long-off and Mishra bagged his first wicket. Once again in the IPL 2009, Rajasthan's top order failed to perform. Going into the 'Strategy Break' Rajasthan were limping at 60/3 with 84 more runs required to win. Mishra struck immediately after the break when Jadeja, going for a big one, was caught by Sangwan at mid-off.
To everybody's surprise, the Rajasthan captain Shane Warne walked into the crease ahead of Pathan. However he got out without troubling the scorers after being stumped by Karthik. Mishra picked up his third wicket.
The hard hitting Yusuf walked in to join Smith. He started off in his trademark style, playing the aggressive brand of cricket. He took the attack to Daniel Vettori, striking him for two sixers and a four in an over. The Smith and Pathan combo were the only recognized pair left for the Royals. Together, they played determined cricket, inching closer to the target of 144. The fearless Pathan continued attacking the bowlers and was ably supported by Smith. He reached his fifty in the 18th over with a six off Nehra, taking just 24 balls to get there. Pathan finished it off by striking Nannes for a boundary. While Smith remained unbeaten on 44, the blazing Pathan was not out on 62 of just 30 balls. His innings included 3 fours and 6 sixers. This was the first loss for Delhi in the 2009 edition of the IPL.
Interesting facts:
Yusuf Pathan scored a match-winning 62 off 30 balls, scoring at a phenomenal strike rate of 206.66, only the sixth instance when a batsman had a strike rate of over 200 in an innings in IPL 2009. (min qualification 25 runs) Yusuf Pathan is the only player to have played two innings with a 200+ plus strike rate in IPL 2009. Yusuf Pathan scored his first fifty of IPL 2009 and the fifth of his IPL career. Pathan smashed six sixes in his entertaining knock, the most in an innings equalling de Villier's record.
Man of the match:
Yusuf Pathan was awarded the Man of the match for his match-winning 62 off 30 balls.
Yusuf Pathan was awarded the Man of the match for his match-winning 62 off 30 balls.
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