AB De Villiers 105 IPL Delhi Daredevils AB De Villiers Sixes
291 days ago
AB De Villiers 105, IPL Delhi Daredevils AB De Villiers Sixes
The Delhi Daredevils innings started in catastrophe - Gautam Gambhir went first ball and Virender Sehwag in the second over - but 18 overs later it didn't even seem like they had flopped. Tillakaratne Dilshan kick-started things with a frenzied half-century and a superbly-paced century from AB de Villiers' ensured the platform was not squandered. Going into this game, MS Dhoni called on his Chennai bowlers to improve if they were to beat a strong Delhi outfit; they just weren't up to the mark, barring the very impressive L Balaji.
Balaji was beating the bat from the start, which included the massive dismissal of Gambhir. Gambhir took a few steps down the track and then tried to leave the ball, but it kissed his glove en route to MS Dhoni. Sehwag was beaten twice in the same over before he tried to break the shackles against Manpreet Gony but instead lobbed a weak pull to mid-on. In 12 deliveries Delhi had lost their explosive openers.
Chennai began tightly but it wasn't to last. Dilshan started like a man with a train to catch, slashing 11 fours and a six in his first 15 balls. Taking a cue from de Villiers, who pulled Gony for an easy six over midwicket, Dilshan picked the same bowler off his pads for six. Then he welcomed Albie Morkel into the attack by thumping three successive boundaries in a 17-run over. Dilshan slashed Andrew Flintoff over slip and then pulled him for a flat six; 45 runs had been crashed off three overs and Chennai looked stunned. No area was safe from Dilshan's onslaught and his fifty took 24 balls.
Joginder Sharma and Muttiah Muralitharan slowed down the scoring before a full toss eventually ended Dilshan's swashbuckling innings. Whether or not Morkel expected such a delivery to get a wicket is a different matter, but it broke a 68-run stand in 6.3 overs.
While Dilshan was going berserk, de Villiers looked briefly like he was at the wrong party, simply scurrying down the other end with open-faced steers behind square. But once Dilshan departed de Villiers had to play host. The pattern of scoring changed from boundaries to nudges, flicks and cuts to third man - Chennai did very well to sneak in 29 boundary-less deliveries 0 before de Villiers went berserk.
Balaji struck on return to dismiss Dinesh Karthik, thanks to a fine low catch by Flintoff at deep midwicket, only for Morkel to drop a sitter off de Villiers the ball after he had raised his half-century. He was duly handed more misfortune when de Villiers tonked him for ten in two balls. That drop proved costly, with de Villiers thumping three sixes and three fours before clipping his 51st delivery to raise an amazing century.
It was a power-packed innings, highlighted by de Villiers' stunning assault in the last four overs: nothing matched the 20 he smashed in four successive balls off Flintoff. The fifth-wicket stand between de Villiers and Manoj Tiwary was worth 74 in 5.5 overs, Tiwary's contribution being nine.
Two overseas batsmen showed there was more to Delhi than Sehwag and Gambhir, further indication that this is the team to beat in the IPL.
The Delhi Daredevils innings started in catastrophe - Gautam Gambhir went first ball and Virender Sehwag in the second over - but 18 overs later it didn't even seem like they had flopped. Tillakaratne Dilshan kick-started things with a frenzied half-century and a superbly-paced century from AB de Villiers' ensured the platform was not squandered. Going into this game, MS Dhoni called on his Chennai bowlers to improve if they were to beat a strong Delhi outfit; they just weren't up to the mark, barring the very impressive L Balaji.
Balaji was beating the bat from the start, which included the massive dismissal of Gambhir. Gambhir took a few steps down the track and then tried to leave the ball, but it kissed his glove en route to MS Dhoni. Sehwag was beaten twice in the same over before he tried to break the shackles against Manpreet Gony but instead lobbed a weak pull to mid-on. In 12 deliveries Delhi had lost their explosive openers.
Chennai began tightly but it wasn't to last. Dilshan started like a man with a train to catch, slashing 11 fours and a six in his first 15 balls. Taking a cue from de Villiers, who pulled Gony for an easy six over midwicket, Dilshan picked the same bowler off his pads for six. Then he welcomed Albie Morkel into the attack by thumping three successive boundaries in a 17-run over. Dilshan slashed Andrew Flintoff over slip and then pulled him for a flat six; 45 runs had been crashed off three overs and Chennai looked stunned. No area was safe from Dilshan's onslaught and his fifty took 24 balls.
Joginder Sharma and Muttiah Muralitharan slowed down the scoring before a full toss eventually ended Dilshan's swashbuckling innings. Whether or not Morkel expected such a delivery to get a wicket is a different matter, but it broke a 68-run stand in 6.3 overs.
While Dilshan was going berserk, de Villiers looked briefly like he was at the wrong party, simply scurrying down the other end with open-faced steers behind square. But once Dilshan departed de Villiers had to play host. The pattern of scoring changed from boundaries to nudges, flicks and cuts to third man - Chennai did very well to sneak in 29 boundary-less deliveries 0 before de Villiers went berserk.
Balaji struck on return to dismiss Dinesh Karthik, thanks to a fine low catch by Flintoff at deep midwicket, only for Morkel to drop a sitter off de Villiers the ball after he had raised his half-century. He was duly handed more misfortune when de Villiers tonked him for ten in two balls. That drop proved costly, with de Villiers thumping three sixes and three fours before clipping his 51st delivery to raise an amazing century.
It was a power-packed innings, highlighted by de Villiers' stunning assault in the last four overs: nothing matched the 20 he smashed in four successive balls off Flintoff. The fifth-wicket stand between de Villiers and Manoj Tiwary was worth 74 in 5.5 overs, Tiwary's contribution being nine.
Two overseas batsmen showed there was more to Delhi than Sehwag and Gambhir, further indication that this is the team to beat in the IPL.
And that's the latest AB De Villiers 105, IPL Delhi Daredevils AB De Villiers Sixes
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