Just as they had done on Monday against Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils recovered from the loss of three early wickets to post a decent total and then rolled over the Rajasthan Royals to ease to another IPL victory.
In the win over Kolkata, it was David Warner with support from Paul Collingwood who led the recovery. This time it was Dinesh Karthik's with support from captain Gautam Gambhir. Karthik's 69 off 38 balls was a well timed innings that exploded towards the end.
Things seem to turnaround quickly in the IPL. Last week, Bangalore looked the pick of the pops, but have now lost their last two games. Delhi and Rajasthan meanwhile had looked also-rans before sudden improvement has put them both in the mix for the top four.
Yusuf Pathan is Rajasthan's not-so secret weapon and he was held back until the Delhi spinners entered the fray when his side had already slipped 32/4. Pat Man was unable to eat all the bowling monsters this time though and when he departed for 24 off 14 balls, Rajasthan subsided to a 67 run defeat. Amit Mishra shone again as he took three wickets.
So my adopted side Delhi are now second behind the standout Mumbai Indians and with Virender Sehwag hopefully still to fire and Dirk Nannes to come back from injury, I am confident that they will now make the final four.
Perennial underachievers? Huh! Let's hope they don't do a Liverpool and flatter to deceive from here on.
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