Wednesday 13 April 2011

Way to go Delhi

This time despite only with two games up for the Delhi Daredevils, they are now seem to be lacking luster with two defeats from the two games they have played so far. In their very first encounter with the Mumbai Indians, despite being the home team, the Delhi Daredevils lost all their wickets for just 95 runs on the board which was not something expected from a team that has made it to the semi-finals of the tournament on the previous two occasions. Agreed that the then Delhi team with Sehwag, Gambhir, Jayawardane and AB deVilliars was a totally different team.

Now, it looks like the change in the team has bought a total change in their body language itself with only one or two players having their presence felt. Last time against the Mumbai Indians, the top scorers were Sehwag and some Naman Ojha for scoring a score in excess of 20. If that was a starting trouble that can be thought of, this time the Delhi Daredevils couldn't defend a total in excess of 150. A total of 150, though not sufficient, wasn't not even that bad that it should be chased down so easily. But, the scorecard speaks otherwise.

One can see the lack of pressure on the bowlers of the Rajasthan Royal's side with only five bowlers taking the red cherry in their hands, and not opting for a fifth bowler. There wass also an over maiden by a Rajasthan bowler when Amit Singh was the lucky guy who did the wonder in a T20 game. It was a paradox to see the most experienced bowler (after Shane Warne) get belted for 40 runs at a rate of 10.0 runs an over. Coming to the Daredevils' innings, only two batsmen got to decent scores with Warner and Venugopal Rao doing the scoring.

The case was exactly opposite regarding the Rajasthan Royals with all batsmen doing the job except their opener Amit Paunikar who got out scoring 1 run. Else, a series of double digit scores eventually leading to the target of 152 with 6 wickets in hand. Despite being the underdogs in the match, the Delhi Daredvils team stuck to the stupid strategy of four bowlers, by not trying out anything new. Of course, what better can Sehwag do with their strike bowler-Irfan Pathan getting belted like never before? whatever be the case, Shane Warne's commitment even in his early 40s needs a pat on the back.

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