Duminy dares to succeed

Captain Jean-Paul Duminy led from the front with a brilliant all-round performance — scoring an impressive half-century and then taking four wickets — to help Delhi Daredevils score a thrilling four-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League match at the Dr. YSR ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Saturday.

Needing 168, Sunrisers were on course with openers captain David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan putting on 50 in six overs before a double strike by Duminy sent both back in the seventh over.

K.L. Rahul and Ravi Bopara showed some intent of taking the fight into the enemy camp, but Duminy struck twice in the 17th over dismissing Bopara and Eoin Morgan to reduce Sunrisers to 129 for six.

Just when it looked it was all over for the home team, southpaw Karn Sharma swung leggie Imran Tahir for two huge sixes in the 18th over.

In the next over, Ashish Reddy off-drove Angelo Mathews to the fence and pulled him for a huge six. But Ashish was run-out trying to take a sharp single.

However, what clinched the issue for Daredevils in the tense final over bowled by Nathan Coulter-Nile (with 10 needed for victory) was the brilliant fielding effort by Mayank Agarwal at deep point who leapt in the air just in time to pluck the ball, off a Karn Sharma slash which looked set to sail over the fence, and throw it back onto the field.

That proved to be the decisive moment which meant Sunrisers needed five off the last ball, which it failed to get it.

Earlier, when Daredevils batted, 20-year-old Mumbaikar Shreyas Iyer impressed with his wonderful stroke-selection, hitting five clean sixes.

It required the guile of veteran Praveen Kumar to deceive the well-set Shreyas with a slower one and his attempted pull ended in a simple catch to David Warner in the covers.

Duminy then changed gears to score a half-century — hitting two fours and a six off the gentle pace of Ravi Bopara in the 15th over of the innings.

It was some good captaincy by Warner, who being the best fielder in the team and perhaps realising the Yuvraj Singh’s penchant for the pull, positioned himself in the deep. And, to the dismay of the star batsman, Warner brought off a brilliant catch on the mid-wicket boundary off Ashish Reddy. These quick dismissals slowed down Daredevils in the slog overs.