New Delhi: The Delhi Daredevils are the youth team of Indian Premier League (IPL). Mentored by Indian youth coach Rahul Dravid, the Delhi-based franchise has an ensemble of youngsters, and the young turks have veritably stood up to the task. Yesterday, it was the turn of Shreyas Iyer.
The 22-year-old from Mumbai played a classic T20 innings off 57 balls, scoring 96 runs to help the team register a thrilling win over The Gujarat Lions. Had it been played by one of the superstars like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni or Yuvraj Singh, it would have been hailed as one of the greatest ever knocks.
It was a classic knock, indeed. Classic because, the young right-handed batsman showed both caution and aggression – truly showcasing the quality of a master batsman, like the one played by Sachin Tendulkar against Australia in Sharjah in 1998. Yes, if we may!
But there was no promotion, and what it earned was a mere fleeting mention in the many match reports circulated in a hurry to meet that deadline.
Chasing Lions’ 195, the visitors lost Sanju Samson, Rishabh Pant and Karun Nair inside the eighth over at Kanpur. There, they needed a batting mainstay who would not only hold the innings together, but also score quick runs to keep the match alive. Mind you, that’s a T20 game, played at a frenetic pace. But he kept calm, and conjured up a classic knock.
He, however, failed to achieve a personal milestone. But the youngster instead rued about missing the chance to finish the job himself. He departed in the last over, with Delhi still needing six more runs to win the match in four balls. It could have gone horribly wrong for them, had it not been for Amit Mishra, who hit two consecutive fours to complete the job.
WATCH the highlights of his innings here:
https://t.co/x245LJXYoC #VIVOIPL via @ipl
— Cricket-atti (@cricketatti) May 11, 2017
https://t.co/LChteMrGLf #VIVOIPL via @ipl
— Cricket-atti (@cricketatti) May 11, 2017
For the record, Iyer’s was the third big knock scored by a youngster from the Delhi stable, after Sanju Samson’s hundred against Rising Pune Supergiant and that peerless 97 by Pant against the Lions in their first leg.
Source: Zee News