In what could be called as a comeback knock, Yusuf Pathan struck a well deserved 59 to guide his team to a 4 wickets victory over Zaheer Khan-led Delhi Daredevils in Match number 18 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 10 at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium in New Delhi on April 17.
DD batted first and set a competitive target of 169 for the KKR to chase. Kolkata skipper Gautam Gambhir once again experimented with the opening pair and this time, instead of Sunil Narine, he opened the innings with Coline de Grandhomme. Gambhir’s this move didn’t work as de Grandhomme was dismissed too early by Zaheer Khan in the very first over and the first wicket fell at a total of 5 runs.
Within next 16 runs, KKR lost Gautam Gambhir (14) and Robin Uthappa (4) and it seemed that the entire game would be a cake walk for the Delhi Daredevils.
Yusuf Pathan, came into bat at number 5 after falling of Gautam Gambhir’s wicket, played a sensible knock with Manish Pandey. They both put on 110 runs to shift the momentum from Delhi to Knight Riders.
Yusuf during his stay in the middle, smashed six four’s and two sixes and score the first half-century of this season. The pressure was building up on Delhi as Pathan looked too furious with the bat to handle. But in the 15th over, Chris Morris balance the situation and gave the much needed breakthrough after he dismissed Pathan at 59.
By the last over, it was 9 required from 6 balls and Zaheer Khan handed over the ball to spinner Amit Mishra. The match has turned into a nail-biting encounter by then and the situation got more intense when Mishra dismissed Chris Woakes in the 2nd ball of the last over.
Lastly, Manish Pandey became the saviour and he hit Mishra for a six in the fourth ball thereby giving a reason to his team’s dugout to jump off with joy. Pandey remained not out till the end and he scored an extraordinary 69 off 49 balls including 3 sixes and 4 fours.
With this victory, KKR has reached at the top of the points tally with 4 wins and 8 points in their account.
