Warner's Delhi defeat Pune

News

Cricket365
April 29, 2013

The Delhi Daredevils recorded only their second win of the tournament on Sunday, defeating the Pune Warriors by 15 runs in Raipur thanks to a half century from David Warner that ensured a defendable total.

Delhi made 164 for five in their 20 overs, with Warner recording 51 not out off 25 balls, before the Warriors made it to 149 for four as time ran out, leaving the sides level on points at the bottom of the table.

The Daredevils were asked to bat first after losing the toss, and were soon without skipper Mahela Jayawardene as he was out with the score on 20. He was caught by Luke Wright off Ashok Dinda, who took three of the five wickets to fall.

India openers Unmukt Chand and Virender Sehwag then joined up to push the score to 68, but the elder partner could not hold on to his wicket and fell for 28 to Dinda in the 10th over, caught behind by Robin Uthappa.

Chand was out in the next over, the score still on 68, also caught behind, but this time off Rahul Sharma. This left Warner, coming in at four, to bat alongside fellow Australian Ben Rohrer.

Warner struck four boundaries and four sixes in his knock, and once Rohrer departed for just 13, Kedar Jadhav joined him and made 25 runs of his own. The pair pushed the score to 159, before the young Indian was out with two balls to go.

The Pune innings got off to a good start and they seemed on track to doom Delhi to an eighth defeat out of nine games. Openers Uthappa and Aaron Finch produced an opening stand of 76 and each scored 37.

But the good fortune was not to last as Irfan Pathan struck twice in the same over to remove both set batsmen. He got Uthappa first, caught by Chand, before inducing the edge by Finch off the final ball of the 11th over.

Still, it looked like the Warriors would be able to chase the score as Wright and Yuvraj Singh joined forces. They stayed together for seven over and kept pace with the run rate, taking the score up to 128 in the 18th over.

India paceman Umesh Yadav had other ideas though, and removed both batsmen in the same over, just like elder statesman Pathan before him. Wright went on the third ball of the over, caught by Warner, and Rohrer took the catch to dismiss Yuvraj.

Steve smith tried valiantly to bash out a win, but was stranded on 17 off eight balls at the end. The win pushed Delhi one spot off the bottom of the table as they swapped places with the Warriors.

Delhi Daredevils: U Chand, V Sehwag, M Jayawardene, D Warner, B Rohrer, K Jadhav, I Pathan, S Nadeem, M Morkel, A Nehra, U Yadav

Pune Warriors: R Uthappa, A Finch, Yuvraj Singh, S Smith, L Wright, A Nayar, M Manhas, B Kumar, A Dinda, R Sharma, K Richardson