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Lions win by one run despite Morris blitz

South African hammers record-breaking 82 from 32 balls but the Daredevils fall short by a single run in a thriller

The match in a tweet: Morris fireworks not enough as Gujarat Lions steal a one-run win over Delhi Daredevils in a see-saw thriller

The Morris blitz: Coming to the crease at 4-57 in the 11th over chasing 173 to win, Delhi's South African allrounder Chris Morris came to the crease and turned the game on its head. With captain JP Duminy going steadily at the other end, Morris started in belligerent fashion by smacking Aussie James Faulkner for two sixes in the 13th over. He hit another off Dwayne Bravo (1-40) and two more off Pravin Tambe (0-17) in the next two overs, reaching 35 off 13. Even at that point in time though, it seemed like a mad dash towards the finish line and nothing more, with 57 still needed from 30 balls. But that changed in the 17th over as Morris hit Dwayne Smith (0-26) for three successive sixes, bringing up his 50 off 17 balls, the quickest half-century yet this IPL season. It was an odd decision to bowl Smith then, but Morris made full use of this error on Raina’s part, bringing the equation down to 29 off 18.

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The end: While Morris hit eight sixes in total, none of them came in the last three overs of the innings, when the Daredevils needed them the most. It was down to some sharp death bowling by Bravo, who etched out a mishit from Duminy first ball in the 18th over, and while Morris still managed to take 11 off him, the momentum had perhaps been lost. Praveen Kumar (0-13 in four overs) bowled a steady penultimate over, giving away only four runs and with 14 needed off 6, it was Bravo versus Morris. He took six off the first three ball and then two poor fielding efforts from Jadeja and Karthik allowed Morris to retain strike for the last delivery. With four runs needed off the final ball, Bravo did the trick, bowling a full delivery into the blockhole, which Morris was unable to get away for more than just two and the Lions held on.

The stat: Morris’ half-century was joint third fastest in IPL history, alongside Adam Gilchrist and Chris Gayle. Only Yusuf Pathan (14 deliveries) and Raina (15 deliveries) have scored quicker. His mark of eight sixes is also the second-most in IPL history in a score of less than 100. And as much as he tried to set up an improbable win for his team, the Daredevils lost due to their poor opening stands. In five matches, their openers have put up a sum total of 57, with 24 against Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening game the highest stand.

The power-hitting: Aussie Aaron Finch missed out this game as Gujarat elected to bat, unleashing Brendon McCullum (60 off 36) and Dwayne Smith (53 off 30) on the Daredevils. The hosts’ ploy of playing left-arm spinner Shabaz Nadeem (0-32) backfired and even old pro Zaheer Khan (0-48) was carted around, as the two openers brought up 0-71 in the Power Play. It was the second highest total in the first six overs this season, just shy of the 72 the same pair had notched up in the previous game. This was power hitting at its best, with the duo smacking 11 fours and six sixes as they seemed determined to outdo each other. Delhi had no answers, with Amit Mishra (0-32) and Chris Morris proving ineffective as well. Together they put on 112 off 64, before Imran Tahir (3-24) trapped Smith LBW, the batsman clearly unhappy to go back. It was a heady start setting the Lions up for a tall total, on a pitch where 150-160 was par.

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The collapse I: Morris (2-35) then returned to the attack and bowled McCullum with a slower delivery that hit the base of his stumps. It became a double wicket over, with a pre-planned short-ball ploy seeing Suresh Raina (2 off 5) lobbing a simple catch to short fine leg. While McCullum and Smith were on their charge, JP Duminy (1-4) had been on the microphone with television commentators, telling them that he didn’t expect to bowl. And yet, he was brought on in the 15th over, and much to the Daredevils’ delight had Ravindra Jadeja caught behind cheaply. The Lions had suddenly slipped to 4-130, and the slide continued with Tahir snapping up Dinesh Karthik and youngster Ishan Kishan off successive deliveries in the 17th over. James Faulkner (22 from 13) threw his bat to help the score along to 6-172, but there was no denying the collapse of 6-30 had given Delhi a huge boost. 

The collapse II: Until, that is, the hosts collapsed themselves when their innings began. A new opening combination was in place after Shreyas Iyer was dropped, but Quinton de Kock (5 off 11), Sanju Samson (1 off 6) and Karun Nair (9 off 7) failed to get going as Dhawal Kulkarni (3-19) ripped apart the Delhi top-order with some quality seam bowling. With the score reading 3-16 after four overs, Rishabh Pant (20 off 17) and JP Duminy (48 off 43) did the rebuilding. Yet, their progress was slow and they could only reach 3-51 at the halfway mark, with Pant falling to Faulkner (1-23) in the subsequent over. It was then that Morris came to the crease.

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The wash-up: The Lions have now soared to the top of the table with 10 points from six matches and they look the best team on display at the moment, just ahead of the Knight Riders. It is remarkable given how the latter has been carefully assembled over the last two years, while this team has been quickly put together during the off-season. The Daredevils meanwhile can take pride in their performance, fighting back in both innings from a losing position. They are now placed third in the standings with six points from five matches. But going ahead, they need to make some tough calls to strengthen their middle order, particularly if their tail continues to be too long.  

The next stop: Gujarat travel to Pune and will take on the Rising Supergiants on Friday while the Daredevils will stay in Delhi to host Kolkata on Saturday afternoon.

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