IPL 2016: Gujarat Lions survive scintillating Chris Morris to go top

A marauding Chris Morris, batting on 69 off just 24 balls, of Delhi Daredevils was up against the veteran Praveen Kumar, entrusted to bowl the 19th over of the match, of Gujarat Lions with DD needing 18 runs to win. Morris had brought DD’s chase back on track from the depths of hell with a scintillating knock that comprised three fours and eight sixes, while Praveen had bowled his first three overs for just nine runs.
A match that had swung like a pendulum had many moments that changed the course of the game, yet, it all boiled down to this one over and Praveen Kumar walked away the victor giving away just four runs. Morris cracked a four off the first ball of the 20th over bowled by Bravo, but the West Indian held his nerve, despite his fielders feeling the pressure, and conceded 12 runs to not only seal a thrilling one-run victory for his team at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Wednesday, but also help GL go top of the table with ten points.
It was a game of two halves, well actually two halves each in each of the two innings, with Dwayne Smith (53) and Brendon McCullum (60) blitzing their way to 100 runs in the first nine overs of GL innings, only to see DD fight back in a superb fashion, taking six wickets for just 72 runs in the next 11.
Similar to how GL started with the bat positively, with the ball they had DD under the pump early on with three quick strikes. Till the 11th over, GL maintained their commanding position giving way just 57 runs and taking four wickets, but Morris walked out to the middle with the bat, or probably a scythe, and ripped in to the bowling attack and wrested back the momentum in his team’s favour.
In company of JP Duminy (48), Morris knew he had to go for runs right from the word go and he started off with couple of sixes off James Faulkner in the 13th over and then cracked two more of Pravin Tambe. The equation came down to 56 off five overs and that was brought down to 18 in two courtesy three massive sixes off Smith by Morris in the 18th over. Smith had bowled one good over conceding five runs, but in a bid to hit the yorker, the West Indian bowled in the slot for Morris and the South African obliged and if it was not for Praveen’s crucial four-run over, Delhi Daredevils would have pulled off a memorable heist.
While Dwayne Bravo (1/40), Dhawal Kulkarni (1/19) and Praveen (0/13) made handy contributions in GL’s victory during the crucial passage of play, for DD, only Morris could hold his own. Duminy, after a sensible knock of 48 off 43 balls handed his wicket in the 18th over and Pawan Negi – the most expensive Indian buy at the 2016 IPL Auction – failed to justify his price tag, scoring just three runs off four balls when the need of the hour was at least a couple of hits to the fence.
DD were reeling quite early in the chase when Kulkarni removed DD’s top-order - Quinton de Kock (5), Sanju Samson (1) and Karun Nair (9) – in no time before Duminy and IPL debutant Rishabh Pant (20) steadied the innings, albeit in a slow manner. Pant’s departure at the hands of James Faulkner brought Morris in to the middle and he made a telling impact.
With the ball as well, it was Morris who had halted the GL innings with a two-run 12th over that included the wickets of McCullum and skipper Suresh Raina, after Imran Tahir had provided the first breakthrough in the form of Smith. Smith and McCullum had utilized the first opportunity at the Kotla track after DD skipper Zaheer Khan opted to bowl first, smashing 112 runs off just 64 balls for the opening wicket.
Smith, playing only his second game this season replacing an injured Aaron Finch, made his intentions clear right from the word go, clobbering four boundaries in the first over of the match bowled by Zaheer Khan, and that kick started a carnage that saw GL post their first 50 runs in just 3.5 overs and then proceeded to score the fastest team hundred in just nine overs. McCullum went toe-to-toe with his opening partner and reached his fifty off 27 balls, while Smith managed to go one better and raced to his landmark with a six off just 26 balls.
With 110 for no loss in 10 overs, a score in excess of 200 seemed easy for GL, but Tahir trapped Smith in front in the 11th over. Morris then yorked McCullum with loopy delivery and smart field placing had Raina tucking a short ball straight at the hands of short backward point. From 11 to 16 overs, DD bowlers stifled the run-rate giving away just 24. Faulkner (22*) and Bravo (7*) then ensured that GL went past the 150-run mark and managed to post a total which eventually proved one run too many for DD.
Brief Scores: Gujarat Lions 172/6 (McCullum 60, Smith 53; Tahir 3/24) beat Delhi Daredevils 171/5 (Morris 82*, Duminy 48; Kulkarni 3/19)