Mayank Agarwal's classy fielding wins the match for Delhi Daredevils

Not many can easily identify this Delhi Opener ! ~ of course those following IPL can !!

It is - Mayank Agarwal,  an explosive right-hand opening batsman from Bangalore, who has modelled his style of play on Virender Sehwag. After smashing  432 runs at an average of 54 in five matches in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy in 2008-09, he toured Australia in 2009 with the U-19 side and hit a match-winning 160 in a one-dayer.

Today,  CSK lost -  Dhoni said that his 37-ball knock was a tad too slow, which allowed RR to register their fifth straight win of the season. Taking Chennai Super Kings’ first loss this season in his stride, MSD  admitted that he wasted a lot of deliveries on a good wicket as the team’s modest total was easily overhauled by Rajasthan Royals, who continued their winning run in the IPL in Ahmedabad on Sunday.  Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane made light work of Chennai Super Kings' 156 for 4, each hitting sparkling seventies in a breezy 144-run stand. The eight-wicket victory also embedded Rajasthan Royals at the top of the table. They have five wins out of five this season, and have now comfortably beaten the only other team that had been undefeated until today.

Daredevils' opening pair of Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer may be the least illustrious among all teams, but over the course of the three matches, they have proven to be one of the most stable ones.  At Vizag,  Delhi Daredevils 167 for 4 (Iyer 69, Duminy 54) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 163 for 8 (Bopara 41, Duminy 4-17) by four runs.

That was a humdinger  - chasing SRH had fallen in run rate and after 17 overs 39 were required off 18 bals.    It was Imran Tahir bowling while Karn Sharma had just joined Ashish Reddy.  Sharma heaved the 4^th ball over long on for a 6 and swept the next delighting the Vizag crowd for another 6.    It came down to 23 off 12.  Angelo Bathews bowled the 19^th.  It was 0-1-4-0-6 (by Ashish Redd) & 2.  In the last over 10  required and  Nathan Coulter-Nile was the man under pressure. 

With 8 needed Karn Sharma sliced it and it did appear that the ball would easily ail over the backward point for a 6.   As the ball had almost crossed the line, Mayank  Agarwal pulled off a stunner.  He leapt up almost defying gravity, slapped the ball back into the field much like a volleyballer, landed outside the ropes, came in running and threw it hard, clearly saving 4 runs.  Just like that Raina brilliant effort, this fielding  also won the match … and a win for Delhi Daredevils at last !!!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

19^th Apr 2015.