‘I thought we’d lose’: Gujarat Lions hold off Delhi Daredevils for nervy IPL win

Gujarat Lions edged Delhi Daredevils by just a run on Wednesday night in the Indian Premier League as Dwayne Bravo held through a nail-biter of a final over.

Dwayne Bravo, centre, and Gujarat Lions teammates Praveen Kumar, left, and Suresh Raina celebrate after their win on Wednesday night in the Indian Premier League. Sajjad Hussain / AFP / April 27, 2016Show more

Gujarat Lions climbed back to the top of the Indian Premier League standings last night after batsmen Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum did most of the damage to beat Delhi Daredevils.

They looked on Easy Street as McCullum top scored with 60, while fellow opener Smith added 53 after being put into bat by the hosts, and a late cameo from James Faulkner (22) took Gujarat to 172 for six off their 20 overs.

Imran Tahir was the pick of the Delhi bowlers as he claimed three wickets for 24 runs. Then it was the turn of Gujarat bowler Dhawal Kulkarni, who tore through the Delhi top order, taking the wickets of Quinton de Kock, Sanju Samson and Karun Nair for just 15 collective runs.

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However, if Gujarat expected Delhi to surrender meekly from there, they were in for a rude awakening.

JP Duminy came to the crease as No 4 to just miss out on his fifty (48) and, following a useful 20 from Rishabh Pant, Chris Morris took centre stage to smash an unbeaten 82 off 32 balls, including eight sixes and four fours.

Despite his heroics, Delhi came up one run short on 171 for five as Dwayne Bravo saw out a nervy final over.

“It was a great game, we can take a lot of positives,” Zaheer Khan, the Delhi captain, said.

“To pull it back after McCullum and Dwayne Smith went berserk was special.

“There was great spirit shown by the boys to pull it back with both bat and ball. It was anyone’s game.

“The way Morris was batting, we thought he will finish it.

“JP batted brilliantly. Despite the slow start, we came so close.

“That’s what is special about this team. We created opportunities on the field, certain things didn’t go our way. There’s still a long way to go. We need to keep the morale high.”

A relieved Suresh Raina said: “When Morris was batting, I thought we’d lose the game from the 15th over.”

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