Krunal Pandya displayed his prowess with some breath-taking stroke play to secure an important win over Delhi by 80 runs. Pandya replenished the faith shown by the team management and plundered 86 runs in 37 balls and helped us getting 206 on the board.

Chasing a target of 207, Delhi Daredevils had a faulty start once again when Mayank Agarwal got out in the second over. He chopped an in-swinging delivery from Vinay Kumar, on to his stumps. Karun Nair lost his wicket at a crucial stage leaving his team at 46/2 in 4.4 overs. Quinton De Kock was timing the ball brilliantly and had kept Delhi in the hunt. It was Krunal Pandya once again who weaved his magic, this time with the ball, and dismissed the dangerous De Kock. Bumrah broke the back of Delhi’s batting order and ended the night with the figures of 3-13. The champs skittled out Delhi for 126 runs to get their third biggest win in the IPL history. It was an amazing comeback by the team as every player showcased why they are the defending champions.

Earlier in the innings, Martin Guptill, who came in for Tim Southee, started well with Rohit Sharma. The duo struck some mighty hits to the boundary and gave us a flashing start, something that we had been lacking. The two were looking in great touch when the skipper got out to a spectacular catch at point by Rishabh Pant. Krunal Pandya came in at number 3 and went absolutely berserk. He started off with some clean hits to the boundary and soon took over the match. Guptill kept giving the strike back to Pandya who was firing on all cylinders. The southpaw looked in tremendous nick as he kept going beyond the bowlers, especially the spinners, Imran Tahir and Amit Mishra. The way Krunal was batting it didn’t seem like it was the same ground where scoring runs was difficult in the last two games. Delhi pulled the match back a bit when they managed to finally get Pandya out off an inside edge onto the stumps. The splendid knock of 86(37) comprised of 7 fours and 6 sixes as we ended our innings at 206/4.

With this win, the foothold gets stronger and the playoff spot remains one win away. We will be facing GL in the last league game of this season, which will be a fate decider.