A brilliant innings of 91 off 53 balls by Jason Roy gave the Delhi Daredevils their first win of the IPL season, chasing down the Mumbai Indians’ 194.
England’s white-ball star, making his Delhi debut in place of Chris Morris, smashed six fours and six sixes to help crush the defending champions by seven wickets off the last ball of the game. The Indians have now lost three out of three.
But they must have felt they had a chance in this one after an explosive start to their innings in which they had 158-2 after 15 overs.
But Roy, who was born in Durban, and once described by Kevin Pietersen as the next Kevin Pietersen, set out with determination. Delhi put on 50 for the first wicket, with Gautam Gambhir contributing just 15. Roy got good support from Rishabh Pant (47 off 25, 7×4, 2×6) as they put on 69 in seven overs, and a useful injection of 13 from six from Glenn Maxwell.
The Daredevils decided to bowl first, and they soon regretted that as Suryakumar Yadav (53 off 32) and West Indian Evin Lewis (48 off 28) put on 102 for the first wicket in nine overs.
Although both fell in short order, the momentum was maintained by Ishan Kishan, whose 44 off 23 took the score to 166 in the 16th over.
With that platform, the Indians (who for the third match in a row omitted JP Duminy from their lineup) were able to play with some freedom, but the Delhi attack made inroads at regular intervals, taking another four wickets and at least keeping the score below 200.
The target of 195 to win at 9.7 seemed challenging, but Roy didn’t think so.
Photo: via Twitter
