The second match of the IPL 2018 between Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab at Mohali had a lot to serve since the first match between CSK and MI had set the bar for entertainment too high for the rest to follow.
DD captain Gambhir lost the toss and was asked to bat first by KXIP skipper Ashwin. Youngest foreign IPL player Afghanistan’s Mujeeb Ur Rahman trapped Colin Munro in front of stumps for 4. But Gambhir continued to score runs freely, as he hit 55 off 42 balls before getting run out. However, Ashwin’s clever use of spinners choked the run flow of other batsmen from Delhi.
Iyer (11), Shankar (13), Pant (28 in 13 balls) and Tewatia (9) all struggled against the spin and were dismissed by spinners. Morris hit 27* in 16 balls to take DD to 166/7 in 20 overs to give their bowlers something to defend.
Mohit Sharma (2/33) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2/28) were the most successful bowlers for KXIP.
Twitterverse was amazed to see how wonderfully Ashwin handled his bowlers and that Gambhir still had it, despite changing his teams.
Here are some tweets:
Gambhir’s run out came at very wrong time for DD @IPL @StarSportsIndia
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 8, 2018
DD in trouble. Haven’t really understood the batting order. Shankar before Pant. Tewatia before Morris. #KXIPvDD #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 8, 2018
Quite like the look of this leggie that #KingsXI have found. Turn and bounce and bowls a decent off break too! @ashwinravi99
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 8, 2018
KXIP playing all types of spinners and medium pace spinners today #KXIPvDD
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 8, 2018
#GautamGambhir literally made #Axar bowl where he wanted him to...quality batsmanship #KXIPvDD #IPL2018 #BadriBytes
— subramani badrinath (@s_badrinath) April 8, 2018
Gautam Gambhir batting like a man on a mission...#IPL
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 8, 2018
Seeing @ashwinravi99 bowl leg-spinners for @lionsdenkxip for a moment i thought was watching TV in mirror!!! Wow! It takes some courage, well done Ash. Is there a message to @bcci selectors too @ipl #DDvsKXIP
— Monty Panesar (@MontyPanesar) April 8, 2018
DD is looking good at the half way mark of their innings with GG taking control nicely. #KXIPvDD
— zaheer khan (@ImZaheer) April 8, 2018
You can't argue the value of experience more. @GautamGambhir continues from where he left last year in purple. Looks in ominous touch. #KXIPvDD
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) April 8, 2018