Kedar Jadhav made a sparkling debut and scored a valuable 29-ball 50
to help Delhi reach a fighting 183 for 4. AB de Villiers (45) and David
Warner (33) played fine cameos. If Warner helped Delhi get to a blazing
start, de Villiers steadied the innings with his patient knock during
the middle overs.
Jadhav played impressively for a debutant and played innovative shots
all over the park during his unbeaten knock of half-century. With his
quick feet and flowing bat, he kept the scorer busy. Occasionally, he
would bring out his big shots and that ensured 55 runs in the last five
overs of the innings.
Inserted into bat, opener David Warner played like a Goliath from the
very first ball of the innings. He attacked relentlessly, throwing his
bat at everything. He repeatedly lofted Praveen Kumar over mid-off and
on the fifth ball deposited him over long-on for a huge six; the opening
over fetched 13 runs.
In the next over, he hammered Dale Steyn for two boundaries and a
massive six over mid-wicket. He completely overshadowed his senior
partner Virender Sehwag in stroke-making and was threatening to score
big. However, in the Steyn’s second over, after cracking a four, Warner
went for a big one but holed out in the deep to Vinay Kumar. His blazing
cameo of 33 came off just 14 balls and was peppered with three fours
and two towering sixes.
Sehwag, who didn’t get too many strike while Warner was at the
middle, tried to step on the gas but was brilliantly caught at deep
point by Virat Kohli. He could barely add 12 to the team score before he
had to make the walk back.
AB de Villiers and captain Dinesh Karthik (17) put a 42-run
partnership to steady the Delhi innings. After Sehwag’s departure the
pace of run scoring did slow down considerably but the two batsmen did
work the field well and still keep the scorer busy. The duo was going
along nicely but Karthik was unfortunately run out when bowler Steyn
deflected de Villier’s straight drive back into the stumps and Karthik,
who was backing up far too much, was found short of his crease.
Towards the business end of the innings, just when de Villiers was
working up a nice pace along with debutant Kedar Jadhav, he was
brilliantly run out by Eion Morgan with a direct throw from point.