IPL | Match 37th | Delhi Dare Devils Innings

-5 is the second best of this league and it proved to be the mainstay of the Delhi attack to dismantle the Hyderabad team. Mishra scalped Ravi Teja, Pragya Ojha and RP Singh in quick succession to give his team the crucial win it needed to assert a stronger claim for being in the final four.

The discerning feature of this razzmatazz league has been the window of opportunity for the next rung to make an assertive leap to embrace the colour Blue. Gautam Gambhir is taking the chances that this format of the game imposes on those with lofty ambitions, but fortune has been favouring his impetuousness. More importantly, he has been consistently showing the maturity to anchor the Delhi Daredevils after early departures of his captain Virender Sehwag in the last four encounters.

His 79 was a crucial component of the Delhi ask of 198 for four against the Deccan Chargers. Then Mishra came up with his dream spell to showcase his own talent. Thursday evening in Delhi dawned pleasant in the wake of late night showers. While security concerns saw the first two rows of two main stands vacant, the crowds flocked in to pack Feroz Shah Kotla. Facing his second ball out there, Sehwag slashed at a rising P Vijaykumar delivery wide off but failed to put enough meat into the shot. RP Singh at third man palmed the gift with glee. Delhi was reduced to seven for one.

From thereon Gambhir began to build the innings with his brand of firebrand smacking. He amassed 79 from 48 deliveries. By the time he was careless enough to be stumped, the score had reached a high of 140 in 15.1 overs. Along the way he ensured there was another player whom he could swagger in the face of within the Indian dressing room. He hit RP Singh for two consecutive sixes followed by an assertive four to be one up in the unsaid pecking order that rules each team.