Sport

Champion stuff from Dinesh Karthik

— Photo: S. Subramanium

MAN OF THE MOMENT: Dinesh Karthik celebrates Delhi Daredevils’ victory over Mumbai Indians in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Dinesh Karthik produced a champion’s knock to snuff out the challenge of Mumbai Indians on a thrilling night here as Delhi Daredevils signed off its final appearance on home turf in style with a five-wicket win off the penultimate ball in the DLF-Indian Premier League.

Karthik’s clinical charge left Mumbai stunned as the home team came back from a difficult situation.

It boiled down to eight runs from the last over by Ashish Nehra but Maharoof (20 off 13 balls with four 4s) completed the job with two well-struck boundaries. Karthik (56, 32b, 4x4 3x6) held his nerve to carve out a victory that kept Delhi’s hopes of a semifinal berth alive.

Set a target of 177, Delhi’s chances revolved around Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir but the in-form openers departed with just 50 on the board. It was a long way thereafter and Delhi stayed on course thanks to a sensible innings from Karthik. Delhi nursed its hopes through Manoj Tiwari (36 of 29 balls) and his fifth-wicket stand of 41 runs with ‘man of the match’ Karthik.

Tiwari fell at the wrong time but Karthik batted with purpose and his unfinished 49-run partnership with Maharoof was the highlight of Delhi’s performance

Earlier, Delhi overcame a typically aggressive Sanath Jayasuriya to restrict Mumbai. After Jayasuriya’s charge, it was Robin Uthappa’s 23-ball 46 (5x4, 2x6) that carried Mumbai to 176 for eight.

Batting can be such a joy when Jayasuriya wields the willow. A near-capacity crowd at the Ferozeshah Kotla went into raptures as Jayasuriya sent the ball scorching with ridiculous ease. Sachin Tendulkar, also looking to match his partner, did not mind playing the second fiddle after the initial assessment of the pitch and the attack. Jayasuriya was unstoppable as he picked even good deliveries to deposit them into the crowd.

A slashed six over point and another clouted over square-leg showed the left-hander in total control of the crease.

The feature of Jayasuriya’s dominance was the timing that he brought to his shots and of course the placement. He was quick to pick the line and hit through it and also not averse to take the aerial route. As long as Jayasuriya was in the middle, Mumbai Indians did not falter.

Put in to bat, Mumbai lost little time in getting down to business. The pitch invited the batsmen to take a positive course and Jayasuriya knew his job well. He had lit up this venue in a World Cup match 12 seasons ago with a thrilling century. The intensity was in place even this evening as Jayasuriya hit six fours and five sixes before losing his rhythm.

Denied strike by Uthappa, the Sri Lankan, having lofted leg-spinner Amit Mishra for a six, tried repeating the shot but was deceived by the change of pace and the well-crafted flight. Earlier, Vijay Yomahesh scalped a memorable victim when he castled Tendulkar, who tried an ambitious on-drive.

The scores:

Mumbai Indians: S. Jayasuriya c Dilshan b Mishra 66, S. Tendulkar b Yomahesh 18, D. Smith c Geeves b Yomahesh17, R. Uthappa (not out) 46, A. Nayar c Dilshan b Geeves 1, S. Pollock b Maharoof 16, S. Chitnis c Dhawan b Yomahesh 3, P. Shah c Geeves b Yomahesh 0, A. Nel (run out) 0, Extras (lb-1, nb-1, w-7) 9, Total (for eight wkts in 20 overs) 176.

Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-107, 3-112, 4-114, 5-143, 6-162, 7-163, 8-176.

Delhi Daredevils bowling: McGrath 4-0-39-0, Geeves 4-0-50-1, Maharoof 4-0-27-1, Yomahesh 4-0-36-4, Mishra 4-0-23-1.

Delhi Daredevils: G. Gambhir c Smith b Nel 19, V. Sehwag b Nehra 18, S. Dhawan c Chitnis b Smith 27, M. Tiwari (run out) 36, T. Dilshan b Smith 0, D. Karthik (not out) 56, F. Maharoof (not out) 20, Extras (lb-2, w-1), Total (for five wkts in 19.5 overs) 179.

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-50, 3-89, 4-89, 5-130.

Mumbai Indians bowling: Pollock 3-0-33-0, Nehra 3.5-0-30-1, Nel 3-0-31-1, Kulkarni 3-0-26-0, Smith 3-0-22-2, Jayasuriya 4-0-35-0.

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