PANDEY MONIUM

Delhi, 19th over: Kolkata Knight Riders needed 15 runs off 11 balls. Chris Morris fired in a fuller delivery outside off to Manish Pandey. The KKR batsman smashed it towards the long-off boundary. The ball was on its way to sailing over the ropes when Sanju Samson leapt to his right, caught the ball midair and threw it back as he went flying over the boundary ropes. The superhuman effort saved Delhi Daredevils four runs, worth their weight in gold at that stage.
20th over: In the last three balls, the visitors needed eight runs to win. Amit Mishra had conceded just a single off the first three balls, and had picked a wicket, too, of Chris Woakes. Now, he was up against Pandey, Kolkata’s only hope. The leg-spinner went for a quick, full length delivery outside the off-stump. Pandey connected well, and the ball flew over long-on, with Pat Cummins watching it sail over him. Had Cummins showed the same athleticism as Samson in the previous over, Delhi could have sneaked through. As it was, Cummuns didn’t to a thrilling four-wicket win.
Chasing a daunting 169 on a slow Ferozeshah Kotla surface, Pandey anchored the KKR innings with a sedate 69. His 110-run partnership with Yusuf Pathan (59) for the fourth wicket turned the tide in KKR’s favour. Pandey, who holds the orange cap with 221 runs from four innings, deservedly struck the winning runs when he pushed a Mishra delivery towards extra-cover for a couple. Pandey played a measured innings, looking for percentage shots and occasional boundaries. When Pathan was caught in the 15th over, with KKR still requiring 38 off 31 balls, Pandey kept his calm and guided the team to a thrilling win.
Pandey and Pathan had joined hands when KKR had their back against the wall at 21/3, losing their top-order to Zaheer Khan’s incisive bowling. The duo, however, ensured KKR picked their third consecutive win and went top of the table.
Earlier, Delhi rode on Rishabh Pant’s attacking 16-ball 38 to post a challenging 168/7. Pant single-handedly revived Delhi’s floundering innings, carting Umesh Yadav, India’s best fast bowler at the moment, for three huge sixes and two fours in one over to collect 26 runs. At 110/4 in 15 overs, the hosts needed a decisive push to put a challenging total on the board. Had it not been for Pant’s late cameo, Delhi would have finished with a much smaller total.
Delhi were guilty of not exploiting a good start provided by openers Sam Billings (21) and Sanju Samson (39); they scored 53 runs in the Powerplay. After losing both the openers, runs dried up for the hosts in the middle overs, with Karun Nair (21) and Shreyas Iyer (26) struggling against the pace of Woakes and the guile of chinaman Kuldeep Yadav. But Pant’s ruthless batting ensured Delhi ended up with a fighting total.