AB De Villiers masterclass ensures Delhi win
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Question: you are an immensely talented batsman. You've just had a fabulous 2009, average 61.57 at a strike rate of over 91 in ODIs, and 70.66 in test matches. You are playing for one of the title favourites in the IPL, and yet, despite your considerable talent, you find that the opening batsmen of your team are the only ones being talked about - by the opposition, by the fans, by the commentators, by the experts. And then, in a crunch match against the other title favourites, they both fall in the first two overs. What do you do?
Answer:Well if you're AB De Villiers, you play a masterly innings, played at a strike rate of nearly 200 but with every shot a pleasure for the aesthetic eye, and you provide a rare instance when individual brilliance trumps over the collective efforts of a well oiled unit. A moment of victory for Man against Machine, if you will.
The match that was billed as the clash of titans, pitting the two tournament favourites against each other, lived up to all the pre-match hype.
On a pitch that looked like a belter, Virender Sehwag won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first.
Chennai had an unchanged side, while Delhi made one change, but not the expected one. Ashish Nehra came in for Yo Mahesh, while there was still no sign of Glenn McGrath - who had the fourth best economy rate in last year's IPL (among bowlers who had bowled at least 40 overs).
Lakshmipathy Balaji gave Chennai a dream start by removing the dangerous Gautam Gambhir off the first ball of the match, when he lazily shouldered arms to a ball that caught a feather touch on the way to Dhoni. The next over, the second half of the dream opening pair also went, when Sehwag top edged a pull to Albie Morkel at mid-on, and suddenly Delhi's middle order was exposed.
However, Delhi fans needn't have feared. In Dilshan and AB De Villiers, the Daredevils found men who were upto the challenge. Dilshan was dominant initially, free stroking his way to 50 off 24 balls, but he fell immediately after. De Villiers however, picked up from where Dilshan left off, and then moved into a zone of his own. He got some support from Dinesh Karthik, and then in a stunning partnership with Manoj Tiwary, he made 65 off the 74 runs they scored. His masterclass ensured that Delhi ended up at an imposing 189 for 5 - the highest total of IPL 2009 so far.
However, when you have a batting lineup that has Hayden, Raina, Dhoni, Flintoff, Albie Morkel and Badrinath, no total can be considered safe, and Chennai came out intending to prove just that. Matthew Hayden - who the Australian selectors must seriously be thinking of calling out of retirement - blazed away to 50 off 22 balls - thereby equaling his own record set in his previous match for the fastest 50 of the tournament. At the halfway stage or 'strategy break' - also called the 'grab-all-the-money-you-can' break - Chennai were very well placed at a 106 for 2, with Raina and Dhoni at the crease. Even though Dhoni fell soon after, Chennai looked on course and when they needed 51 off 35 balls with Albie Morkel and Andrew Flintoff at the crease, they looked like favourites to win.
But some superb bowling at the death by Ashish Nehra, Avishkar Salvi and the ever reliable Daniel Vettori, ensured that Chennai's runs were choked, which led to suicidal run-outs and manufactured shots that ended up in the hands of fielders.
Eventually Chennai fell 9 runs short, close enough to sound a warning to other teams that no total is beyond their reach, but far enough to give Delhi the psychological edge and possibly assume the mantle of the front-runner for the tournament.
Man of the Match:
AB De Villiers for playing what has been the innings of the tournament so far. He started normally, picked up the pace towards the middle, and exploded at the end. A perfectly paced and constructed innings, scored under pressure with two of the main batsmen back in the pavilion inside the first 2 overs.
Turning Point of the Match:
Albie Morkel dropping AB De Villiers, when the latter was on 50 off 35 balls. AB went on to score a further 55 runs off just 19 balls.
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