Gambhir shines; DD beat Punjab

KXIP (Moham)made five changes to their playing eleven – Sunny Sohal, Simon Katich, Luke Pomersbach, Wilkin Mota and Brett Lee made way for Ravi Bopara, Manvinder Bisla, Mahela Jayawardene, Kaif and Yusuf Abdulla.

DD made three changes to their playing eleven – David Warner, Rajat Bhatia and Ashish Nehra made way for Mithun Manhas, Farveez Maharoof and Yo Mahesh.  

On winning the toss, Gautam Gambhir, DD’s skipper and the player of the match, chose to field.

The first Powerplay of KXIP’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 44, and lost three wickets.

KXIP’s openers put on five. Bisla, who scored half-a-dozen balls, scored just a couple. Eight balls into the match, Manhas ran him out.

Kumar Sangakkara, KXIP’s skipper, scored 17. His nine-ball innings included a boundary and a six. Twenty-three balls later, he was caught by Pradeep Sangwan. Farveez Maharoof broke the 34-run stand.

Yuvraj Singh, who faced five balls, scored four. His runs came by way of a boundary. Five balls later, he was caught by Gambhir. Maharoof broke the run-a-ball stand.

The fourth-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. The (Jayawarde)next ball, the Sri Lankan – who faced a ball, failing to open his account – was caught by Dinesh Karthik off the bowling of Sangwan.

KXIP scored 50 off 7.2 overs (44 balls). DD had conceded half-a-dozen extras at that point.

The fifth-wicket pair put on 50 off 38 balls. While Bopara’s contribution to the partnership was 34, Irfan Pathan’s contribution to it was 17. Extras’ contribution to the partnership was a run.

Bopara’s half-century – which included seven boundaries and a six – came off 41 balls.

KXIP scored 100 off 13 overs (78 balls). The number of extras they had conceded at that point gave DD no reason to be in seventh heaven.

Pathan, whose 16-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, eventually scored 21. Forty-three balls after Jayawardene’s dismissal, he was stumped by Karthik. Tillakaratne Dilshan broke the 60-run partnership.

Kaif, whose run-a-ball innings included a boundary, scored half-a-dozen. Nine balls later, he was stumped by Karthik. Amit Mishra broke the run-a-ball stand.

The seventh-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Bopara, whose 48-ball innings included seven boundaries and a six, eventually scored 56. Three balls later, he was caught by Manhas off the bowling of Yo Mahesh.

Ramesh Powar had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he scored just three. Seven balls later, Dirk Nannes broke the three-run stand.

Piyush had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he scored five. Nine balls (Chaw)later, he was caught by Maharoof. Nannes broke the 16-run stand.

Sreesanth, whose 14-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 15. He was unbeaten, as was Abdulla, who faced a ball, failing to get off the mark.

DD eventually conceded 13 extras. KXIP scored 142 for the loss of nine wickets off 20 overs.

Dilshan, who bowled an over, had a reason to be in seventh heaven – he picked up a wicket.

Yo Mahesh, who bowled three overs, conceded 23. He picked up a wicket.

Sangwan and Mishra bowled four overs each, picking up a wicket apiece. While the former conceded 32, the latter conceded 23.

Maharoof and Nannes bowled four overs each, picking up a couple of wickets apiece. While the former conceded 37, the latter conceded a dozen.

The first Powerplay of DD’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 39, and lost a couple of wickets.

Virender Sehwag, who faced half-a-dozen balls, scored eight. His runs came by way of boundaries. Eight balls into the chase, he was caught by Jayawardene. Sreesanth broke the 10-run stand.

The second-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Dilshan, who faced three balls, didn’t open his account. Three balls later, he was caught by Bisla off the bowling of Sreesanth.

The third-wicket pair put on 35. A B de Villiers, who faced 13 balls, had no reason to be in seventh heaven – 34 balls later, Chawla and Jayawardene ran him out.

DD scored 50 off 8.1 overs (49 balls). KXIP had conceded half-a-dozen extras at that point.

Gambhir’s half-century – which included seven boundaries – came off 40 balls.

Karthik, whose 18-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 20. Twenty-nine balls after de Villiers’ dismissal, he was caught by Pathan. Abdulla broke the 34-run stand.

DD scored 100 off 14 overs (84 balls). The number of extras they had conceded at that point gave KXIP no reason to be in seventh heaven. That was, incidentally, the number of extras they eventually conceded.

The fifth-wicket pair put on 50 off 37 balls. While Gambhir’s contribution to the partnership was 29, Manhas’ contribution to it was 24. Extras didn’t contribute to the partnership.

Gambhir, whose 54-ball innings included nine boundaries and a six, eventually scored 72. Forty-two balls later, he was caught by Jayawardene. Pathan broke the 61-run partnership.

Manhas, whose 24-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, eventually scored 31. He was unbeaten, as was Maharoof, who faced a ball, scoring a run.

DD, who scored 146 for the loss of five overs off 19.5 overs, lost by five wickets with a ball to spare.

Powar bowled a wicketless over, conceding 16.

Yuvraj bowled three wicketless overs, conceding 11.

Chawla bowled four wicketless overs, conceding 33.

Pathan bowled 3.5 overs, conceding 27. He picked up a wicket, as did Abdulla, who bowled four overs, conceded 30.

Sreesanth, who bowled four overs, conceded 24. He picked up a couple of scalps.