Mon, 02 May 2011 - IP Delhi vs IP Kochi, IPL 2011, 41st Match - Bulletin

Kochi maul Delhi for a comeback win

The home jinx for Delhi continued as they lost yet another match at the Ferozshah Kotla ground to Kochi in a lop-sided affair. Chasing Delhi’s 140, the Kochi batsmen came out all guns blazing and reached the target with five overs to spare. This seven wicket loss was Delhi’s fourth defeat in five home matches.

Power hitter Brendon McCullum set the tome for Kochi as his initial assault gave the visitors a perfect start, 61 runs coming in first five overs. Delhi pacer Umesh Yadav was plundered for 23 runs in one over including a couple of towering hits by McCullum. His dismissal and Roelof van der Merwe’s introduction stemmed the flow of runs somewhat but eventually Delhi just didn’t have enough runs on the board.

Wicketkeeper batsman Parthiv Patel ensured that match ended much before the scheduled close as he played some good looking shots and shut the door for Delhi. He remained not out on 37 runs. Such was the dominance of Kochi batting that even an out-of-form Australian batsman Brad Hodge managed to middle the ball and race to 24 runs of just 13 balls.

The absence of a quality spinner in Delhi’s line-up was evident. Barring van der Merwe the Delhi bowling looked ordinary. The worst part was that they conceded 140 runs in just 15 overs on a surface where their own batting never looked at ease. Delhi have to find a spinner from somewhere if they want to do well. The pair of costly-buys, Irfan and Yadav once again disappointed as their seven overs cost 67 runs.

Earlier, Delhi batting once again couldn’t find its feet after the openers departed, first Virendar Sehwag was caught behind off Prasanth Parameswaran not before depositing him in the stands for a huge six. David Warner and Naman Ojha departed within a space of 1 run to leave the home teeming in a bit of strife at 43 for 3 in the seventh over. Delhi may have won the odd game when their explosive openers fired but this overdependence is hurting them badly.

The repair work was left to Yogesh Nagar and Delhi’s most consistent batsman this year, Venugopal Rao and the two added 54 runs in the most significant partnership of the innings. Rao scored a well made 40 of 36 deliveries. With big like Travis Birt and Pathan yet to come, Delhi would have fancied a total 150 but that was not to be due to some good bowling by the Kochi bowlers at the end. Nevertheless Birt hit some entertaining shots and added a quick fire 27 to lend some credibility to the Delhi score.

The Kochi bowling was good enough to ensure that their batsmen did not have to chase a big total on a tricky Kotla track. Newcomer Parameswaran and Vinay Kumar were impressive and both of them picked couple of wickets.

Kochi outplayed Delhi in all the departments of the game and the loss has meant that they are starring down the barrel while as, Kochi got the much needed 2 points.