Pathan, Smith topple complacent Daredevils by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Scorecard:	Bracebridge Heath v Haxey
Player:	AB de Villiers, GC Smith, YK Pathan
Event:	Indian Premier League 2009

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DateLine: 28th April 2009

 

Yusuf Pathan made a mockery of Delhi Daredevils’ ambitions of making it four wins out of four, hammering out an unbeaten 83-runs partnership with opener Graeme Smith to carry Rajasthan Royals to a vital victory and two important points at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.

 

Pathan came in to bat with Royals threatening to self-destruct once again, and initiated a counter-attack that left Daredevils clueless and defeated.

 

Rajasthan did at one stage look like they were losing the plot, when they saw half the side go for a pretty pedestrian 64 after 10.3 overs, leg-spinner Amit Mishra doing most of the damage.

 

Shane Warne’s burning desire to win is evident every time he comes on the field. It was this desire that brought him on to bat before Pathan and Dimitri Mascarenhas, since he did not wish to give this one up under any circumstances.

 

But the plan did not work as Mishra’s fine spell ensured that Warne didn’t do much damage, but Daredevils would rather have rather seen him stick around than see Pathan come in.

 

Pathan’s game plan is simple – hit it out of the park. He took on Daniel Vettori and hammered him out of the equation, and that made Virender Sehwag’s job almost impossible. He clobbered three sixes off the left-arm spinner in two overs, then added another off Mishra and helped himself to two more off Ashish Nehra, a whirlwind knock of 62 off 30 deliveries.

 

But for all of this, it took Smith’s calm presence at the other end to keep Pathan going. At times the Baroda all-rounder looked to be edging towards getting out, but the South African captain talked to him constantly and kept him on track. In terms of vitality, Smith’s 46-ball 44 was as important as Pathan’s blitzkrieg.

 

The Daredevils total was destined to fall short of the target one of these days. One cannot expect AB de Villiers and Tillekeratne Dilshan to do all the work all the time. Sehwag somehow seems to have taken the casual approach in this tournament while Gautam Gambhir has found the going tough. It would be to their benefit that these two, or at least one of them, comes to the party soon.

 

What makes matters worse is that Sehwag doesn’t seem to think there is a crisis. Gambhir edged Mascarenhas to Warne at slips, and one would have expected the skipper to take a breather, not relinquish his wicket in the same over.

 

But De Villiers has been sensational. On this track, which was not always the best to bat on, he did enough to keep Daredevils in the match, urging partner after partner to put his head down and play out stands that all combined to give the team a fighting total.

 

The stand came from Vettori, as the New Zealand skipper did something he has done well over the years, turn the strike over and then come in with his own version of improvisations, which can drive bowlers batty.

 

De Villiers was dismissed by a howler of an lbw decision, but that brought in Mithun Manhas who got along with Vettori and put in some more vital runs.

 

However, the bowling was largely tight, with Munaf Patel outdoing them all, including Warne, who came to some grief against Manhas. Two for 14 was excellent for Munaf, as he also dismissed Vettori right when the left-hander was beginning to threaten, and managed to keep the score down.

 

Ravindra Jadeja also showed his prowess and cricketing brain, coming off with a spell of two overs for 17 runs, which promised a lot for the spinners later in the evening.