The toss was a bit confusing as no one seemed entirely sure what Sehwag had chosen to do having won it, but unsurprisingly Delhi took the field first as they always like to do. The DDs started really nicely as Pathan opened with a flawless maiden to Uthappa and Nadeem followed it up with another tidy one to leave PWI 4/0 after 2 overs, needing to accelerate and take advantage of the powerplays. What followed was a compelling spell of cricket as Ryder and Ganguly, following the dismissal of Uthappa, decided to throw caution to the wind and swung the bat at near every ball that came down at them. Some were middled, most few from outside outside edges but all of a sudden Pune had launched themselves to 52/1 at the end of the powerplay which soon became 88/1 at the half-way point - an excellent position from which to post a daunting total. Delhi will definitely count themselves unlucky, Morkel in particular found the top edge of Ryder's bat but he was swinging so hard that it flew to the boundary and even over it, and Ganguly was also showing signs of improvement, lofting KP's off spin over the long off boundary. However, I don't think Sehwag's captaincy did his side any favours, rather than look to his wicket-taking bowlers he and Pietersen bowled overs 7, 8 and 9 (which combined to leak 30 runs) and handed Pune the initiative and an important point in the match when he perhaps should have been looking to his front line bowlers as the partnership had to be broken.
Morkel was eventually brought back in the 15th over to have Ganguly caught on the long on boundary for a patient and important 41 from 35, a welcome return to form for the skipper, and left his side on 125/2 after 15 overs with a real license to go after the bowling in the last 5. This was a job expertly done by the clean hitting Ryder and Smith, who becomes a better finisher every time he walks to the crease at the moment! Anything in Ryder's ark was swung over wide long on and Smith combined innovation (including an audacious switch hit for 4) with big hits down the ground as in total PWI scored 67/1 in this period to catapult them to 192/3, the big total you have to set when up against Delhi. Ryder eventually fell with 2 balls to go, having scored a brilliant 86 from 58 balls with Smith as the catalyst, hitting 34* from just 13 balls (SR - 261.5!). Once PWI had gotten away at the start the Delhi bowlers were powerless to resist throughout, their star performers in Morkel and Nadeem were both expensive, 3-50 and 0-44 respectively and only Yadav was capable of building any sort of pressure. The late push from Ryder and Smith would turn out to be crucial as a total of around the 170 mark would probably have come up short.
In pursuit of 193 Delhi decided to go top heavy and sent Jayawardene in alongside Sehwag to open up. Alfonso Thomas, an experienced 20/20 performer and 2012 debutant, and Nehra were both extremely impressive with the new ball as they hit their lengths perfectly, crucially little width was given to Sehwag to free his arms at and after 4 overs Delhi were at 16/1, backed up by sharp work in the covers from the youthful pair of Pandey and Smith. Thomas got Jayawardene with the worst ball he bowled all day, a slower ball full toss that was pushed harmlessly to Smith at cover, Mahela could barely believe what he'd done. The bad news for PWI was it bought the in form Kevin Pietersen to the crease, fresh from his 103*, and you'd excuse Pune had they been a little nervous at the prospect of Sehwag and KP batting together, I certainly was! My fears were immediately realised, both knew that they were key to this run chase and played accordingly, hammering the ball to all parts in a 5 over partnership that saw an astonishing 71 runs scored. KP immediately took a liking to Mathews' bowling as he hit 3 sixes in 4 balls and Sehwag was not to be outdone as he laid into Ryder's solitary over of medium pace with a couple of typical slashes over the off side for maximums. The timeout came at the 9 over mark and with Delhi flying along at 87/1 it was one that PWI badly needed. What was to follow was the game changing moment, from who else but the Pune captain.
Ganguly, obviously fed up with the efforts of his bowlers, decided to take on the responsibility, bringing himself on, with the dream result. His first ball pitched on a length on an off stump line, kept a touch low, snuck underneath KP's heave and cannoned into off stump, sparking celebrations that had to be seen to be believed! The whole team chased him on his mini-lap of honour (he is 39 remember!) as this was a huge wicket in the course of the game when KP (32 from 23) and Sehwag (57 from 32) had rapidly been taking it away from PWI, a moment of pure inspiration from Dada. He then sent back the dangerous Pathan in his next over, having already been hit for 6, single-handedly sparking a dramatic turnaround. The job was not done yet though, they were desperate for the wicket of the Delhi skipper and Karthik, man I feel is too good not to be a regular starter for PWI, duly obliged in the next over to pouch a sharp caught and bowled that put Pune back on top for the first time in a while, leaving DD at 115/4 and needing to score at around 10.5 an over. From there the remaining batsmen had too much to do, with the required rate constantly climbing and no settled player at the crease. Thomas, who bowled exceptionally with 4-0-22-3, and Nehra (4-0-26-0) returned to finish the job adeptly in the last 4 overs to leave Delhi comfortably short at 172/7, a serious collapse having been on top and this was down to Ganguly's game swinging spell of 4-0-27-2, rolling back the years to his allrounder days!
Pune's win was mainly down to the work of 4 men, each having exceptional games in their own right. Ryder is showing signs of rare consistency this year as he played both maturely, to last until the 20th over, and aggressively with a S/R of 148. I can barely come up with enough compliments for Steve Smith at the moment and he did his job perfectly today, providing the acceleration needed to put Pune just out of reach, as well as being a delight to watch in the field. Thomas, who was so important to PWI last year, has found it to tough to get a look in this time but looks good for a string of matches now, showing he bowls well at the start and end of an innings, much like the injured Dinda. Last, but by no means least, was the MoM and undoubted star of the show, Ganguly. His batting was much better today, scoring at a good rate which meant less pressure on his partner Ryder and together they laid the foundations for the strong finish. His inspired move, one that few would have predicted, to bring himself on what was won his team the match as a few more overs of KP and Sehwag could have ended it as a competition. Great stuff from Pune and an important win having suffered consecutive defeats away from home. Delhi will be disappointed but not overly so, how Ryder and Ganguly both managed to survive those fraught powerplay overs I do not know and the game would have been very different had either fallen. They still have an incredibly strong line-up and will be up there at the end of the season. A great match to watch and plenty of credit should go to both sides for the entertainment, tipping this way and that and constantly keeping fans on the edge of their seat!
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